


The Waitress, The Pop Star, and The Race Car Driver

by princessalie72 (orphan_account)



Category: Chris Kirckpatrick, JC Chasez - Fandom, Justin Timberlake - Fandom, Music RPF, NASCAR RPF, NSYNC, Pop Music RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 54
Words: 55,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1610267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/princessalie72
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Title says it all. Was written during my NSYNC obsessed days for a couple friends of mine. Names have been changed so that people will never know who I was talking about..lol</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> One of the first fanfics I ever wrote. Completely unbeta-ed. I am pretty sure there are some issues but hey. Forgive me. I was just a bit of fun.

Chapter 1 

Tara and Georgie were in the kitchen of their co-owned restaurant. Mitch Adams was the other owner. He was also the chef. He was trying out a new recipe on the girls. 

"MMMMMM. Mitch this is good." Tara said as she wiped her face with a napkin. Georgie mumbled something with her mouth full. Mitch smiled knowing that was a good sign. 

As the girls were finishing the new sandwich that Mitch had created, Allisa, the other girl who owned Serendipity, came in the kitten. It wasn't busy yet, but they were anticipating a huge crowd. 

NASCAR was having some sort of thing, Tara could have cared less. Georgie was a little excited. Allisa, well she was ecstatic. Any chance to meet her race car idol, Dale Earnhardt Jr, or Junior as she liked to call him, was reason for excitement. 

The other thing going on this week was a free concert held by NSYNC. Now NSYNC was something all three girls could agree on. The guys of NSYNC were gods. 

So with all of this starting this weekend in Miami, the three of them decided to take on few extra shifts at the restaurant. Usually they each worked one day a week. They liked to get to meet the people and things like that. This week their usual waitresses were going to need the help. 

It still wasn't time even for their usual Friday rush. But Allisa came running in like hell was on her tail. Georgie looked at her. She knew that look. It meant only one thing. Lance Bass. Something having to do with Lance. 

"OK Al, what is it now? is Lance sitting out there waiting for his drink?" Georgie and Tara laugh. Like that would ever happen. 

Allisa shook her head. 

"NO". 

"Then what is it?" 

She looked at Tara and Georgie. 

With wide eyes and a straight face she said, "All of them are out there waiting for drinks" 

Georgie was in shock. "No freakin way!!" 

Tara stood up and peeked out the door. She jumped back like she had been bit. 

"She is right. They are out there. Britney Spears too." 

At this point Georgie thought they were playing a trick on her. So she stormed out the door yelling behind her, 

"Sure NSYNC is here and I am having JC's ba.....by" 

When she stepped through the door she stopped dead in her tracks, because all five members of NSYNC were looking right at her a smiling. She nodded her head and turned right back into the kitchen. 

Allisa and Tara were having fits of laughter. Mitch had to sit down because he was laughing so hard and Georgie started to hit her head on the wall. 

"I am such a looooooooser" She turned back around. 

"They are at MY table now. Dudes..this is embarrassing!" 

She started to beat her head against the wall again. 

"Dumbass, dumbass,dumbass." 

She vaguely heard them stop laughing. She turned to say something when she saw JC and Lance standing in the kitchen. 'That's it. I am going to jump off a bridge.' Obviously Tara was helping Allisa remain standing. Since Lance Bass was in their kitchen she was useless. 

Georgie, stood up straighter and breathed in deep. "Ignore what just happened. To much caffeine. Is there something I can help you gentlemen with?" 

"Well, Britney, has a low blood sugar..." 

Georgie's eyes got wide. 

"Do you guys want some orange juice for her?" 

Lance and JC nodded. "Thanks. We didn't want to rush you. Since you had to..um..recover from you caffeine fit." 

Georgie looked at them wide eyed. " Alright already. just laugh and get it over with." She rolled her eyes and walked to the fridge to get a glass of juice. 

She handed it to JC. "If she needs anything else ask please." 

JC smiled at her and she almost died. "Thank you Miss...." He read her name tag. "Georgie." 

She smiled back at him. "Your welcome. I will be out in just a sec to take your orders. I just have to grab my pad and pen." 

JC turned and walked out the door. Lance turned and winked at Allisa. 

"Thank you ladies." 

He walked out the door behind JC.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 

All three of the girls stood there staring at each other. Tara spoke up first. "Allisa, Lance WINKED at you?!?!?" 

She knew that. She saw that. She couldn't believe that. 

"Yea I noticed. What the heck?" She looked at Georgie. 

"Don't look at me. I am recovering from my own personal brand of humiliation. Duuuuuuude", she said with whine, "I have to go out there now." 

She put her head on the counter. 

"Hey hey, head off the counter. I have to cook ya know." She lifted her head and pouted at Mitch. He just looked at her and started to laugh. 

"Thanks for the help Mitch. Appreciate it. Ok guys let's go wait on our tables. You got one Tara." 

Tara and Georgie walk out to the tables. Mitch and Allisa look at each other and run for the door to spy on Georgie. 

~~~~ 

Georgie took her time walking to the table. 'Everything is fine.' She said to herself. She got up to the table. 

"What can I get you guys to drink?" 

She looked at each of them looking at her. She squinted. She breathed in deeply. 

"Ok. What?!?! You." She pointed at Chris. "Got something you wanted to say?" 

Chris held back his laughter. He shook his head. 

"What about the rest of you?" All of them were trying to contain laughter. 

Georgie looked at Britney. She was trying not to laugh as well. Georgie herself wanted to laugh. 

"OK. Laugh. It was funny. Embarrassing as heck, but funny." 

Chris lost it. "I am sorry. But the look on your face when you realized we were here was just too much." 

She was nodding her head up and down. "Ok do you all want drinks or what?" 

She looked at Lance who was looking past her. She turned to see what he was looking at. She smiled when she saw Allisa and Mitch standing in the door watching. 

She leaned down towards Lance. "Her name is Allisa." 

He looked up at her and she smiled at him. He blushed and looked back at the menu. He thought the petite blonde girl was so cute. 

"I want a Killian's" 

She started to write that down when she realized who had asked. Justin. 

"Um. Sorry. Do you have any ID?" 

Justin stared at her wide eyed. He had never been asked for his ID. Everyone knew how old he was and didn't care. 

"You do know who I am right?" 

Georgie rolled her eyes. Justin was her favorite until he got an attitude. His head was bigger than his hair used to be. She noticed Britney looking at him funny as well. 

"Yes, I know who you are. Justin Timberlake. Height 6'. Birthday January 31,1981. Making you not 21. Not until next year. So sorry. No beer." 

Justin glared at her. "Why you little bit.." 

"JUSTIN." 

He turned to look at his girlfriend. "WHAT?!?!" 

She was shooting daggers at him from here eyes. " Shut up." 

She had no idea where her fun loving laid back nice Justin had disappeared to. "He will have a Pepsi. As will I." 

Georgie nodded. 

"I will have a root beer." Joey said. 

Lance said he wanted a Pepsi. Chris asked for a strawberry Daiquiri. 

"Hey why didn't you ask for his ID?" 

She rolled her eyes. "Chris Kirkpatrick. Height 5' something. Birthday October 17, 1971. Making him 30. That's why. Besides he is 7 months older than me. Making him 30 again." She smiled sarcastically at Justin making him even madder. 

JC smiled. So she was 29. Good one less question he would have to ask when he got the nerve. Lance wondered how old Allisa was. 

 

Chris had just noticed a pretty waitress at another table. She had long, gorgeous hair. "Um..Miss.." She smiled. 

"Ok after the events of this afternoon, you all can call me Georgie" 

"Ok then Georgie, what is that waitresse's name?" 

She turned to see Tara taking orders from a very distracted table of girls. They had noticed NSYNC and where going to cause a scene she feared. 

"That's Tara." 

Chris smiled. "Thank you." 

"Ok now that I have all your drink orders I will be back in a few seconds with them."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 

Georgie walks back into the kitchen. 

"WELL, I just told off Justin Timberlake, told Chris YOUR name." She points to Tara. 

"WHAT?!!?" 

"Yea he asked about you. " 

She blushed and went over to peek out the door at him. 

"Your boy, Allisa, couldn't take his eyes off of you. Told him your name too." 

Allisa's eyes got big. "He knows my name." 

Georgie smiled. 

"Tara the girls at your table seem to be going to cause a scene. I think we need move the guys ASAP. So this is what we are going to do. Tara you take the girls their drinks. Allisa you get tables ready on the balcony out back. I will get the guys to move. Sound good?" The other girls nod their heads. "Ok then let's do it." 

Georgie and Tara walk back to their tables. Georgie "drops" something and picks it up. Next to JC. She didn't realize it until he bent to pick it up too. Their hands touched. "O sorry. Listen. See that table over there. They are calling friends and there is a small riot forming out front. We are getting some tables ready on the balcony out back for you guys, OK?" 

JC didn't answer right away lost in Georgie's green eyes. "JC?" He shook his head. "Yea sounds good." He told the guys what was happening. "So guys follow me ok?" She goes into the back as they guys and Britney are following her. 

Lance stops dead in his tracks when he sees Allisa standing in the doorway. "Poofoo, you have to move to get into the room." "Sorry Chris." They walk out onto the balcony and take their seats. 

Just as Lance was about to sit a little boy that seemed to be about 8 came running right into him.. "Hey slow down there slugger." Lance picked him up off the floor. Allisa was so shocked to see her son Ben run right into Lance that she was silent for like 30 seconds. "Ben, I told you no running in the restaurant." "I'm sorry mom." At that moment Ben realized who had run into. His eyes got wide. 

"I know you. Your Lance. My mom has pictures of you up allllllllllll over the place. She thinks you're a hottie." He leaned in like he had a secret. Lance bent down to hear him better. "She is always telling Georgie that she is going to marry you someday." 

All of this was said before she could get to him. By the time she reached Ben and Lance she was beet red. "I am sorry about that..I..just... Ben get upstairs. Your grounded for life." Ben opened his mouth. "BEN...NOW!!" She pointed to the stairs. He took off knowing that he mad his mom angry. Again. 

Lance was looking at her. She was so embarrassed but she was so cute. "It's ok. Really. Worse things have been said to me." Allisa still couldn't look him in the eye. He put his finger under her chin. "Hey I said it's ok?" He smiled at her. He wanted to see her eyes. She smiled at him and it took his breath away. "I'm Lance Bass." He held his hand out to be shook. Allisa turned her head away. Then looked back. She put her hand in his. "Allisa Lexington. The little boy you ran into is Ben. My son." 

She waited. Usually when she said that, they ran. Normal everyday guys ran. So why wouldn't Lance. Not your normal everyday guy. Lance smiled at her. "He is cute." "Thank you." 

"HEY LANCE are you going to eat today?" "Yea JC I am coming." Lance grabbed her order pad and pen. "Write your number down so I can call you." She blinked. 'He wanted me to do what?' "What?" He smiled. He could see that she thought he had lost his mind. "Phone number. Yours. So I can call you." She wrote it down without even looking at the paper. She didn't think he would really call, but it was fun to live in her delusions. 

She figured she was still in bed anyhow. Dreaming. The one of many. "There ya go. Look, it was nice to meet you, but I hear it getting loud out there. That riot may have started. So you stay here. Stay away from the front." Lance smiled. "Ok. I will call you tonight." Allisa nodded. "OK" She was still playing along with it in her dream. It had to be a dream because it was too unreal to be anything but a dream


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 

Georgie was watching Al and Lance with a smile on her face. 'Go Allisa', she thought. Once everyone got seated she asked what they wanted to eat. 

Justin ordered first. "Tequila lime chicken. Unless of course you need to card me." He was glaring at her. He could not believe that this..this waitress had said no to him. No one ever said no to him. Not even Britney. At least not anymore. 

Georgie did not like Justin. Not one bit. She felt the urge to put him in his place. She smiled sweetly, as Tara and Allisa walked in and saw the look on her face. "O god, Tara, she is going to do something. We had better get over there." Tara and Allisa walk quickly to the table. But they were to late. 

"Ya know Mr. Timberlake, you are the most conceited, self-centered, person I've ever met. How Britney stays with you is beyond me. After all how can she compete with you for your affection." She barely heard the laughter from the other guys at the table. 

"Britney, do you ever get to use the mirror at home?" She asked with a smile. Justin was so pissed he wanted to smack her. Then Britney started laughing and said, "Not lately." 

Lance noticed Allisa and the other waitress watching the show. They just shook their heads like they were used to this. He for one thought it was great. J was getting a little out of hand lately and nobody wanted to say anything. 

JC watched in awe as this girl ripped into Justin, and he loved it. Her tirade was interrupted by a guy saying that Georgie had a phone call. 

She looked up and sighed. "Drat." She looked up and saw Tara and Allisa in the doorway. "Hey you two, come over and finish taking orders. Except from him." She pointed and smiled at Justin. He just glared at her and took a sip of his Pepsi. 

Chris saw Tara walk up to the table and he sat up straighter. Lance looked up and smiled at Allisa. She bent down to say something. "Sorry about that, she um..just gets..well anyway I guess there really is no explanation for her." Lance laughed. 

Chris looked at Tara as she was asking Britney what she wanted. Allisa got Lance and Joey's orders. Tara was trying not to freak when she got up to Chris. "What would you like?" Chris smiled wide. "A date. With you." The other guys looked at Chris. Since he had broken up with Dani he had not been so bold in his date asking. 

Tara blinked twice. "I'm sorry. What did you just say?" She was sure she didn't hear what she just thought she heard. Chris smiled at how flustered she had gotten. "I asked for a date. With you. Soon if at all possible." She swallowed hard. 'Dear god, he did say what I thought he said.' She smiled slowly at him. She shrugged her shoulders. "Sure why not." 

Chris stood up and gave her a quick hug. "Ok then I would also like a steak medium-well. Baked potato." Tara was just standing there looking at him. Then broke into a huge smile and walked into the kitchen. 

"Hey were is JC?" Allisa asked prepared to take his order. Everyone shrugged their shoulders. No one saw him sneak into the kitchen to talk to Georgie. 

~~~~~~ 

Georgie was on the phone talking to someone who wanted them to cater on Saturday. JC walked in the kitchen and the chef pointed to the office in back. "She's on the phone." JC walked into the office and saw her sitting on the desk with a calendar on her lap. 

"You want breakfast and lunch. Ok..that will be.." She looked up to seee JC in the doorway. She dropped the phone. "Jesus." 'He has got to stop doing that.' She picked up the phone and apologized. 

"Sorry about that. OK, that will be $750.00. We will be there at 7AM." She stopped as the guy on the phone said something to her. 

"OK the DEI Racing Team. Ask for Ty Norris. Good. Thank you." She hung up the phone and wrote something down on the pad next to her. 

She looked up at JC again. "Something I can help you with?" JC smiled and walked in the room and shut the door behind him. Now at any other time, this would have fit perfectly into one of her stories that she liked to write. In fact the whole afternoon thus proved more exciting than any plot she could come up with. This was fan fiction at it's best. 

"Actually there is. " He slowly walked up to the desk and stopped dead in front of her. Her knees were touching his legs. She swallowed. He leaned over and took her pen out of her hand. Her eyes got huge and he wrote a number on the pad next to her. He stepped back, looked in her eyes and whispered. 

"Call me." He turned and walked back out the door leaving Georgie to process what had just happened.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 

As she was sitting there Tara and Allisa walk in. All three have the same look on their faces. Georgie is still sitting on the desk holding the paper JC had written his number down. The other two girls sit in chairs in front of her. 

Georgie speaks up. "OK does any of this seem surreal to you guys? Because dudes.....we used to talk about this stuff all the time." 

All Tara could do was nod. Chris Kirkpatrick asked her out. She was beside herself. Allisa was still in denial. There was no way that Lance would call her. Georgie for her part was going to call Mr. Chasez's bluff. She was going to call him. 

"Yea I mean when we first started talking...it was dreaming up ways to meet these guys. Dude this is way to weird." 

Allisa leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. She and Georgie had met on the Internet. Georgie was looking out people who were older NSYNC fans. Tara started chatting with her as well. And one week Tara and Georgie went on a road trip and went to Orlando to meet Allisa. They have been inseparable since. 

They just sat there in silence. No words needed to be said as each girl's dream seemed to be coming true. Or so they thought. 

~~~~~~~~~ 

"Ok So you just decided to ask her out? Not even a 'Hi I'm Chris and you are...'. Man, dude." 

Chris smiled at Justin. He just felt in his gut that he had to move. Follow his heart. He did. He was happy he did. To see the smile that lit up her face and made her eyes sparkle was enough to make him happy for days. It had been a long time since he felt that way about anyone. Since he and Dani had broken it off. He was hoping that Tara was the one to make him feel whole again. 

"Ya know J sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." 

Justin looked at Lance. 

"What the heck is that supposed to mean Lance. Dude you didn't...you got the blonde ones number." 

Lance blushed slightly. 

"Her name is Allisa. She is sweet." 

Justin sat up. "SHE HAS A KID Lance, A KID." 

Lance shrugged his shoulders. "So. He is a cute kid." 

Justin just shook his head. 

"Well I think this is all so romantic. Just be careful guys. I mean you know our lifestyles. It's hard to keep a relationship under normal circumstances, but with people like us it's even harder." 

Britney smiled at the guys who had become her family in the last few years. She looked at Justin and wished he would still have that look on his face about her as these guys do about the girls they just met. 

"I think you are all crazy. At least JC is..." Justin looked over at JC. He had that smitten look on his face as well. Justin rolled his eyes. "Not you too C. Please tell me you didn't. You couldn't have these guys took the two..." Justin stopped his sentence dead. 

"Justin just shut up before you say something you might regret." 

Justin didn't hear him. 

"JC, you...not her. She is a bit..." 

Britney hit him. "Justin stop it already. She is not. She is just..." She was quiet. 

Justin glared at her. "She is what? RIGHT? You think she was right?" 

Britney sighed. This was not the place for this conversation. "J, babe let's talk later OK?" 

"I don't think so." Justin stood up and stormed out of the restaurant. 

"I'm sorry C." 

 

JC shook his head. He knew things between Justin and Britney were a little rough lately. 

"It's ok Brit. Go after him. He loves you. He is just a little messed up right now." 

She smiled and let out the same way Justin went. 

~~~~~ 

"Ok so what are we going to do? You guys going to be ok taking their food out to them?" Georgie had her tray in hand and was determined to be nonchalant about all of this. 

"Yea we are ok. just like normal people. Go out give them the food. Easy as pie." 

"OK then. Let's do it."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 

When the three girls walk out, Georgie notices that Justin and Britney are gone. 

"Where did ego-boy and Britney go?" 

JC looked at her. "They had a small disagreement and left." 

As they were setting everyone's plates down she asked if they should put Justin's and Britney's food in a to-go box. Lance said that was probably a good idea. 

Georgie went back into the kitchen. Despite her nice, calm exterior her inside was bubbling over. JC Chasez wanted her to call him. She was thinking it had to be some sort of joke. Especially after the earlier embarrassments. 

She would worry about it later. She got out a couple of boxes and put the food in it. She decided to go into the office and do some work. Let Tara and Allisa do their thing. 

~~~~~~~~ 

After Tara and Allisa finished giving everyone their food they went back out front to check on things. It had died down so they could take a break. 

"Should we eat with them?" Allisa asked. 

Tara shrugged her shoulders. "I have no clue. This is all out of my realm of experience." 

They walk back into the kitchen and hang up their aprons. Tara asked Mitch to make one of the new sandwiches that they had tasted earlier. Allisa wanted a cheeseburger and fries. While Mitch was preparing their food they went to the office where they assumed Georgie would be. 

She was talking on the phone and waved the two girls to sit down. They sat in the chairs in front of her and waited. Allisa noticed the order for the catering job on the desk so she picked it up and read it. She could not believe what she was reading. They were catering breakfast and lunch for DEI Racing Team. 

Georgie got off the phone and smiled at Allisa. 

"I was going to tell you about that later. With all the Lance excitement I didn't know how much more you could take." 

Tara took the paper from her. "What is DEI Racing?" 

Tara never did get into the racing thing. That was something that Allisa had gotten Georgie into. 

"That would be Dale Earnhardt Jr. His racing team." 

Tara smiled then. She didn't care for racing but with her two friends she knew who he was. 

"Well, then, Allisa I guess you are stoked huh?" 

All Allisa could do was nod her head. Dale and Lance. What a week this was going to be. 

~~~~~~ 

"Think they are going to come back or what?" 

Joey shrugged his shoulders. "I think you guys might have scared them off. When did the three of you get so bold?" 

Lance, JC and Chris just shrugged. Neither of them knew. They just did it and were as shocked as Joey and Justin were. But, they noticed that the girls were shocked by it as well. 

"JC, do you know where they could be? You should go ask them to eat with us." 

"Chris why don't all of us go find them and ask." 

"Yea," Lance said, "they are probably back in the kitchen again." 

Joey just shakes his head."Man I wish there was a fourth waitress." The three guys get up in pursuit of the girls they wanted.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 

There was a knock on the office door and all three girls said come in at the same time. Tara and Allisa stood up in shock to see Lance, JC and Chris standing in their office. Georgie just sat there looking at the three guys wondering if they even realized what they had done. Picked up three waitresses. WAITRESSES. She was still in a state of disbelief. 

Lance smiled at Allisa. She blushed slightly. She was so cute he just wanted to kiss her right then and there. Instead he said, "Are you guys on break soon, because we were wondering if you wanted to eat with us?" 

Allisa and Tara looked at each other. "In fact we are. We just asked Mitch to make our food." 

Tara turned to Georgie. "How about you girl, you going to eat with us?" 

As much as she wanted to and as much as the pleading look in JC's eyes almost made her say yes, she said no. 

"Sorry guys, I have to do some work. End of the month and stuff. I am really sorry. You two go. Have fun." 

She waved them off and looked back down at the papers she was reading. 

She heard the door close and assumed she was alone. She stood up to go get a Pepsi and JC was standing with his back against the door. Scared her to death. 

"Ok You have to stop doing that." She smiled at him and he smiled back. 'God he is gorgeous,' she thought. 

"Was there something you wanted?" 

JC lifted one eyebrow to her question implying an answer that she wasn't really expecting. She blushed and looked down. 

"Really, I wanted to get to know you. I figured we would be here a little while longer and we could use the time wisely. Are you super busy?" 

Georgie smiled. "Not super busy. I guess we could talk while I work. Sit down. I am just going to get something to drink. I will be right back." 

She walked out of the office and shut the door behind her. She leaned back against it and sighed. 

"Wow" she said out loud. Mitch looked up. 

"What?" She smiled. 

"Nothing really. Just the sexiest man alive is sitting in my office wanting to get to know me. WHY?!?!?!" 

"Just go with it George. Have fun." 

~~~~~~ 

Tara and Chris were walking behind Lance and Allisa talking quietly. Chris saw an empty table in the corner and asked Tara if they could sit there. She said no problem. So she walked over and sat down. 

Chris grabbed his food and went over to that table. Joey watched all that was going on. Deciding he would be a fifth wheel, he got up. 

"Dude, I am heading back to the hotel. Maybe check on J and Brit." 

Lance got up to the table. "Ok sure. You don't have to leave because of us." 

Joey shrugged. "Hey, it's no problem. I could you a rest anyway. You kiddies have fun." 

He threw a fifty dollar bill on the table. "Tell Miss Georgie she can keep the change." He turned and snuck out the back door. 

Lance pulled out the chair for Allisa. She sat down and immediately took a bite of her sandwich. "So, Allisa tell me about yourself?" 

She looked up with a startled look on her face. "What do you want to know?" she asked around a huge bite of food. 

Lance smiled because most of the girls he showed an interest in would not be themselves. Allisa it seems was different. She was talking to him with her mouth full. 

"I don't know. Everything." He smiled at her and she almost choked on her food. 'Could he be any hotter?' 

She wiped her face off with the napkin. "There really isn't a whole lot to say. I was born and raised here in Florida. Orlando actually. I am 26. I have an older brother. Jason. He lives in Georgia. " She stopped to take a bite of her sandwich. "I wanted to start my own business. Maybe a garden shop or something. Then I met Georgie and Tara. We decided to purchase this restaurant together and here I am." 

Lance smiled at her. He wanted to ask about Ben, but was afraid she might think he was pushing. 

She ****ed an eyebrow at him. " Ok ask." 

He looked at her. "How do you know I want to ask something?" 

She laughed. "Well, let's see. I have an 8-year-old son. Of course you want to ask about it." 

He smiled warmly at her. "Only if you feel comfortable with telling me. I don't want to push you." 

Allisa glanced up at him. She shrugged. "There really isn't an exciting story behind that. Ben's father and I just didn't work out. I would never change having the relationship because it gave me Ben. He makes me very happy." 

Lance could see that she was telling the truth. She loved her son. He picked up his fork and took a bite of food. "So," Allisa said with a mouth full, "tell me something about yourself that I haven't read about." 

He laughed and almost spit out his food. "So you have read about me huh?" 

She nodded her head. "I was mad at Ben because he was telling the truth." She gave him a huge smile that succeeded in making him turn several shades of red. 

One thing was for sure, Lance thought, there would never be a dull moment with Allisa around. That and he loved her honesty. Something that was very hard to come by in lately.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 

Tara and Chris were silently eating their meal. Chris had a billion and one questions, but he had no idea where to start. 

Tara for her part couldn't think of one single question to ask. Which was strange considering the time she and Georgie put into the whole 'what if..' game. 'What if you met Chris? What would you say?' She was at a complete loss now. 

"So.." 

"So.." 

They started talking at the exact same time. This made them both laugh. 

"You go first, Tara." 

She like the way Chris said her name. It gave her chills. 

"Well, um.. I have no clue. To be honest this is all a huge gigantic surprise. I suppose I could ask you what the heck you are thinking asking ME out on a date?" 

Chris laughed. He could answer her, but the truth was he had no clue. It was like the question flew from his mouth of it's own free will. He couldn't stop it if he wanted to. 

"I dunno. Truthfully, I was as shocked by it as you were. But, that's a good thing. I mean the best things in life come from spontaneous decisions." 

Tara nodded her head. " I would have to agree with you. Moving to Florida was one of those spontaneous things." 

Chris looked at her. "Really, why is that?" 

She smiled at him. She proceeded to explain how her, Georgie and Allisa came together. 

~~~~~ 

JC was watching as Georgie ate her sandwich and did paper work. She really was pretty. Her hair was black and pulled up into a ponytail. She was humming to herself. He smiled because if he wasn't mistaken she was humming "Pop". 

Georgie wanted to get the order for Saturday all filled out. She was still trying to calm her racing heart before she tried to carry on a civil conversation with him. She then realized what she was humming. 'Great,' she thought, 'anything else I can do to embarrass myself?' She decided to just keep humming. 

She got done filling out the paperwork and looked up at JC. "Can I ask a question?" 

He lifted one eyebrow. People who could do that always amazed Georgie. 

"Sure, shoot." 

"What the heck are you thinking? Dude, hello I am a waitress, or at least a sometimes waitress. You, you are JC form NSYNC. Popstar." She couldn't stop the question from coming out of her mouth. 

He looked at her. "And that makes a difference...why?" 

She looked at him closely. "Well, I don't know..but..um...we are so not even close to running with the same type of people." 

He smiled at her. "I think that's a good thing. Refreshing." 

He shrugged his shoulders. He knew himself this was a bit out of the ordinary. But, from the second she had come through the door and realized they were there, he was interested. 

"Well, then. As long as you realize that you and the other two out there are certifiably nuts then it's ok." She smiled thinking about Tara and Allisa. She was more worried about Allisa than Tara. 

"Lance is...um how can I put this..not going to hurt her or anything is he? Because I would have to hunt him down like a dog and kill him if he does." 

JC smiled. She was protective of the ones she loved. Nice he thought. "No. He never does anything like that unless he has serious intentions." 

"Ok then. I just don't want Lissa or Ben hurt. It's hard on him when he gets close to someone and they leave. I mean I am aware that you guys are gonna leave, but not LEAVE leave. OK I am making no sense now so I am going to shut up." She sat down and took a bite of her sandwich. 

"I understand what you are saying. I promise that Lance has the best intentions towards her." 

He looked at her ****ed head. Her forthright attitude made him smile. It was a welcome change from the girls he usually met. They were all 'O my God you JC from NSYNC!!!' Then they would act so completely different than what he was sure they were really like. Georgie was definitely a welcome change. 

"So what did you mean by 'sometimes waitress'?" 

 

Georgie looked up and washed the last bite of her sandwich with a swallow of Pepsi. 

"Well, actually I am a part owner of this here fine establishment. Tara and Allisa and Mitch also have part ownership. We waitress, usually one day a week just for fun. This week we knew was going to be busy so we took on a few extra days." 

"WOW. So then what do you do all day? Do you have another job?" JC was now finding the questions coming easier. 

"Nope. This place took off in the first few months and we started making money. Tara and Allisa are taking college courses. I watch Ben when he is not in school. We live upstairs so there are no rent issues. We bought the building outright." 

JC wanted to ask more questions but he was interrupted by a knock at the office door. Lance opened it. 

"Hey man we gotta get going. Supposed to be in a meeting in ten minutes." 

He looked up at Georgie. "Sorry about this." 

Georgie shook her head. "Hey no prob. I know how it goes. When work calls." 

JC stood up and went over to the desk. "Give me your number. It will probably be easier for me to call you then for you to try and hunt me down." 

Georgie looked at him. She smiled. 'Yes right. Like he would ever call' She wrote her number down and handed him the paper. 

JC looked at her and knew what she was thinking. He walked around the desk and turned the chair so she was facing him. His hands were on either side of her. Looking right in her eyes he said, "I promise I am going to call. You can still call me. Leave a message or whatever. THIS," he said pointing to her and him, "is not something I want to end anytime soon." 

He stood up and walked towards the door. He turned at looked at her. "Talk to you later." 

She smiled. "Bye JC." He shut the door behind him.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 

Georgie sat there for a second taking the afternoons events and dissecting them. That's what she did. She over analyzed everything. She shook her head. 

'Just enjoy it.' 

She stood up and looked at the number that JC had given her. She smiled. She would call him alright. Probably in the process throw him way off. 

She walked out and saw Tara and Allisa cleaning up. She knew both of them were going out that night. 

"Hey you two, go get ready. I will finish up here. I know you need to get going." She smiled at them. Tara and   
Allisa looked at each other. 

"You mean you didn't get asked out?" 

Georgie shrugged. "No, but that's ok. Someone needs to watch Ben." She smiled warmly at her friend. 

"Well, actually, Lance wants to take Ben with us. He knows of a place we all will love." Tara and Georgie's   
eyes got big. 

"Cool" 

None of the guys that Allisa dated wanted any part of Ben after she was interested. They hoped Lance was different. Somehow, Georgie thought so. 

"Well no problem. Junk food and comfy jammies for me tonight." 

The idea did have a lot of appeal to Georgie. Tara and Allisa look at her knowing that the whole night she will be thinking about JC and if he was really going to call. 

"Let's get this done so you guys can get ready. Chris and Lance won't wait forever." 

Georgie started humming a song again, noticing this time it was 'This I Promise You.' 

~~~~~~~ 

JC, Lance and Chris were walking into the hotel they were staying at. "SO JC, what are you doing tonight?" 

JC looked at Chris. "Nothing, just hanging out here tonight relaxing." 

Lance and Chris look at each other. 

"Right, you are going to tell us that you did not ask Miss Georgie out?" 

JC smiled. He wanted to take this slowly. He knew she was a little freaked out by the attention she got from him. "Nope. I told her I would call. I am taking a less forceful approach guys. Nice and easy for me." 

JC opened the door to the room he was sharing with Justin and walked right into Britney leaving in a   
huff. 

"JC when Mr. Ego over there, gets his head out of his butt, would you have him call me. Until then I am hanging with Chris and Lance." She stormed pass JC and headed the direction that Lance and Chris had gone. 

JC looked at Justin sitting on the bed. "Dude what did you do to her?" 

Justin shrugged. "She's just being a bit.." 

"Justin! Don't call her that. What has got into you? You had better fix what ever bug is up your butt." 

Justin scowled at his friend. 'That stupid waitress is probably going to come over' His scowl deepened. He had no clue what had caused three of his friends to start slumming in the girl department. But it bugged the heck out of him. They were so much better than waitresses. 

"So you got plans tonight C?" 

JC shook his head. 

"Nope. Just going to stay in. Relax a little." 

"What no waitress action? I figured since Chris and Lance were gettin some you would too." 

JC looked at Justin. "J if you ever talk that way about Georgie again I will kill you. I am sure Chris and Lance will do the same. So shut up." 

Justin stood up and left the room without so much as a word. JC grabbed some sweatpants and a t-shirt and headed for the shower. 

~~~~ 

Britney was watching Chris and Lance get ready for there dates. "So where are you taking you girls?" 

Lance looked at her. "We are going to Pizza and Play." 

Chris jumped out of the bathroom. "You said you didn't want to go there. I wanted to yesterday." 

Chris looked at Lance and pouted. "Dude, we are taking an 8-year-old there." 

"Sooooooooooo, 30 year olds can have fun there too." He went back into the bathroom and finished his hair. 

"Well I am off. Told Allisa I would be back in like 45 minutes " 

Britney smiled. "Ok, go have fun." 

Lance walked out of the room. Chris came out of the bathroom. "Hey he left without me. Dude..." 

He yelled as he went in the hall to find Lance waiting by the door. "I wasn't going to leave you." They laugh and head to the elevators.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 

There was a knock at the door and Georgie got up to answer it. She knew who it would be. She opened the door to see Lance and Chris standing there with big grins on their faces. "Come in guys. They will be down in a sec." 

She walked over and sat back down on the couch. She had a six-pack of Pepsi and a bag of chips sitting next to her. Lance smiled. "I take it your not planning on going anywhere?" 

Georgie shook her head. "Nope. Not unless I have to pee." 

Chris and Lance broke out laughing. No wonder JC liked her. She was honest. She didn't care what people thought of her. 

"Well, I sure hope you do get up to go pee." 

She scowled at Chris. "Shut up old man, I can take you down you know?" 

Just then Tara and Allisa came walking in the room.

"Thank god. Girls take them away. They are harassing me." 

Chris picked up a throw pillow from the chair he was standing by and did just that. Threw it at her. Hit her in the head. 

"Bite me Chris." 

"Yea, where?" 

They started laughing. "Ok everyone O-U-T! I have some relaxing to do. You kiddies all have fun." 

The four of them left the room and Georgie started flipping through the channels. She found a whole show about the new Lord of The Rings movie that was coming   
out. So she decided to watch it. 

~~~~~ 

JC was sitting on the couch in his hotel room flipping through the channels and he came across the show about Lord of the Rings as well. The Hobbit was one of his favorite books, and he was looking forward to when the movies came out. 

He looked down at the paper with Georgie's number on it. He would call, but later. Make her think he wasn't going to call. Throw her way off. He smiled at the thought of the shocked voice he would hear on the other end of the phone. 

~~~~~~ 

Lance, Allisa and Ben decided to walk to the pizza place. They were talking and walking along when out ofan impulse he grabbed her hand. She looked at him with wide eyes. He smiled and winked at her. "So Lance, after this concert what are you guys up to?" 

"We actually have a couple of months off. A much needed rest. We are all looking forward to spending time with our families and stuff. It's going to be   
pretty cool." 

"You guys work awfully hard. The energy you use on stage is amazing and you. Doing a movie and stuff too. You surely need a break. Enjoy some of that money you made." 

Lance laughed. He turned to see that Ben was still peppering his bodyguard with a ton of questions. "Hey it's not like your not busy. You are running a business and raising a great kid. " 

They reached the restaurant and Ben ran right past them. "Oh cool. Pizza and Play." He ran into the place, got his hand stamped, and was off in a matter of 30 seconds. 

"He sure has a lot of energy." 

Allisa smiled. "Yup. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep up. With classes and all it's tiring. Georgie is really good with him. She is a life saver." 

"You never did tell me how you met Georgie and Tara." 

Allsia looked at him. "Well, that's a very interesting story really." 

They walk over and sit in a booth where she could keep an eye on Ben. "I have time. Tell the story." 

Allisa looked at Lance. How in the heck do you tell someone that you met someone because of--albeit indirectly--   
them? 

"Well, I met Georgie on the internet." 

Lance looked at her wide-eyed. "OK go on." She smiled at him and continued with the story of how they all met. 

~~~~~ 

Tara and Chris decided they were just going to walk. They weren't really hungry. They were talking softly and laughing. They had a lot in common really. Chris thought she was so beautiful. Tara thought he was even better looking in person. 

"So, Chris what are you doing after the concert here this weekend?" 

Chris smiled. "Well, we have like two months off. So I am going to my families house for a week or so then I am back in Florida. Hopefully spending some quality time with a certain waitress." 

Tara blushed. He really was a sweetheart. "I would love to spend some time with you." Chris reached out and grabbed her hand and they headed toward the beach.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 

Georgie looked at the clock. It was only 5pm. She was sure no one would be back for a while. She decided to go take a nice hot bath. Bubbles, candles, the whole nine yards. She started toward the bathroom when the door opened and in walked Allisa. 

"Dude, why are you home so early?" 

Allisa smiled at her. "I know you wanted to relax and all but.." 

Georgie put her hand up. "Lance wants to be alone for a while, right?" 

Allisa shook her head. "Actually I would like you to watch him. Lance wanted to take him to some more places. I told him that I thought we should get to know each other a little better without Ben around." 

Georgie smiled. "Yes, it is kinda hard to bond while Lance is running in the ball pit." 

They laughed remembering that one of their favorite pictures of Lance was the one where he was in one of those things at a McDonald's somewhere. 

"So you will watch him?" 

"Sure. We can watch movies and practice our NSYNC moves." 

Allisa laughed. Ben and Georgie spent hours learning all the dances. They do pretty well, too. She runs up and gives Ben a hug. 

"You be good ok sweetheart." 

Ben hugged her back. "You too. I like Lance. He is nice to me." 

This made tears form in Allisa's eyes. She knew Ben was aware of how some of the guys thought about him. He usually never vocalized it. 

"I will be good. I like Lance too." 

She stood up and gave Georgie a hug. "Thanks, girl." 

"Hey, anything for my peeps. Go on get. Mr. Knight in Shining Armor won't wait all night" She pushed Allsia out of the door. She shut the door behind her and turned to Ben. 

"So Ben, what dance are we going to start with today?" 

Ben ran and grabbed a CD. "I think we need to work on Pop." 

Georgie rolled her eyes. That one was the hardest out of all of them. "OK put it in." 

Ben puts in the CD and turns to Georgie. "Hey maybe we can show Lance when he brings Mom home." 

Georgie shook her head. "Ben sweetie. We are not going to say anything to Lance about this, OK? I don't want them to know about us dancing OK?" 

Ben shrugged his shoulders. "OK. Come on let's dance." 

She smiled at him and took her place beside him in the middle of the living room. She looked up and noticed that it was 5:30pm. 

~~~~~ 

Allisa ran down the stairs to the waiting Lance. "Ok I'm sorry. Ben was giving me the rules." 

Lance laughed. He really liked Ben. He was a good kid. "You know you have done a really good job with him. " 

Allisa blushed. "Thank you. It wasn't easy, but my mom and dad helped out. Then when Tara and Georgie came, well they love Ben and it has been great for him." 

Lance could tell that she really loved her friends and family. He loved that. He too loved his friends and family. Even on his few precious days off he wanted to be surrounded by them. 

"So where is that NASCAR thing I have heard so much about?" 

Allisa looked at him. "YOU like racing?" 

Lance smiled. This was something of common knowledge, so he was shocked that she didn't know that. Although it was a newer interest. "Yea, I love races. This weekend has me all excited." 

Allisa laughed. "I so know the feeling. In fact Georgie got the restaurant a job catering for Dale Jr. on Saturday." 

She giggled at the thought. She still didn't know who was going to be doing it, but the thought was still fun anyway. "I love NASCAR. Junior is so my favorite. Who is yours?" 

Lance thought a second. "I guess I would have to say Dale Jarrett. " 

Allisa nodded her head. "Well some things can be over looked I guess. " She smiled up at him. He looked down at her. He smiled and grabbed her hand and made her stop. 

She turned to look at him. 

"What?" 

He pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. Then he leaned in and kissed her. Kissed her so softly that if she had been asleep she would never have known he did it. But it was enough to make her lightheaded and dizzy. All in a good sense. 

She was whispering. "What was that for?" 

Lance smiled at her. "Just because." He grabbed her hand again and started walking down the sidewalk.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 

Tara and Chris had no idea how long they had been sitting on the beach. They were talking non-stop about all sorts of things. Chris looked at his watch. "Dude it's 6:00PM. We have been out her for like three hours." 

Tara turned to look at Chris. They had both been leaning up against a big rock. "WOW, Time fly's when you are having fun I guess." 

Chris took her hand and looked in her eyes. "So you are having fun?" Tara smiled at him. 

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?" Chris shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't going to point out the age difference thing if she wasn't going too. 

Tara looked at him again. "Hey, Chris. Look at me." He looked up at her. She nodded her head. 

"I don't care how old you are. Do you care that I am younger than you?" 

Chris smiled. "No. I don't but...' He stopped his sentence. To say the fans might, would make it sound like he wanted a relationship with her, which he did, but he didn't want to push it. 

"But what?" Tara was looking at him with a bewildered look on her face. 

"Nothing. But nothing. As long you are ok with it, that's all that matters." Chris stood up and dusted the sand off of his pants. "Dude I am hungry. You wanna grab a bite to eat." 

Tara smiled. 'OK that's something I will have to get used to.' Chris would go from serious to not serious in a matter of seconds. "Yea I'm starving too." 

Chris grabbed her hand. "Alright let's go find a place to eat." 

~~~~~ 

JC was getting bored. He was thinking that he should just go over to her apartment. He wanted to see her again. He just didn't want her to feel pressured. He looked at his watch. 6:30 pm. He figured everyone would still be out so they could be alone. 

He grabbed his hotel key, threw on a hat and went out into the night. 

~~~~~ 

"Aunt Georgie I am hungry!!" Ben yelled as they collapsed on the floor after dancing for over an hour. 

"Yea me too Ben. Me too. Let's go down and get Mitch to make us something." 

Ben stood up and ran out the door. Georgie followed a little more slowly. Ben had that dance down to a science. She was still having a hard time. 'Boy if I ever meet Wade...' She laughed at the thought. She got down to the restaurant as Ben found his place at the counter with Mitch. 

Mitch looked up. "The boy beating your butt in the dance department again?" 

She scowled at him. "Bite me Mitch" 

Mitch started laughing and handed her a plate of left overs. "Thanks. We were starving." 

"Hey no prob. I need to finish a sauce for tomorrow." 

Ben and Georgie finish up their food. "Ok Georgie, let's go. You almost have it. This time do it without the video." 

Georgie wanted to whine. But she knew Ben wouldn't let her rest until she had the stupid dance down. "Alright let's go." Ben followed her up the stairs and into the living room. 

"OK Georgie. You do it by yourself this time. I will watch from here." He jumped up on a stool and pushed the play button. 

~~~~~~~ 

JC was walking up the stairs and heard Pop playing rather loudly. When he got to the apartment Mitch, the chef, had told him was Georgie's he saw that the door was open a little. He walked up quietly and slowly pushed it open. 

Ben's eyes got big as he saw who was standing in the doorway. 'Ohhhhh Aunt Georgie is going to be sooooooo mad.' He was about to turn off the music when JC motioned for him to be quiet. Ben got a huge grin on his face. Georgie might be mad, but it will sure be fun!!! 

JC watched as this girl nailed every move. It took them forever to learn it. It was not an easy dance. The part she did the best was the part after Justin's "Man, I'm tired of singing." She did that perfectly. 

The song ended and Ben tuned it down before Celebrity started playing. "There Ben, did I finally get it?" 

Before Ben could answer, JC did. "I think you did great." 

Georgie whipped around and looked at JC. Then she looked back at Ben. Who by this time was laughing so hard he was crying. "You know Ben I take back every nice thing I ever said about you." 

She looked back at JC who was staring at her. He now knew why girls thought sweat was sexy. Man, he came at the right time. 

She was wondering how the heck she could get out of this mess. 'There was no way out of it.' God she did enough embarrassing things for one day. 

"Ok. You caught me. Would you like to see some more? We learned them all?" She smiled sweetly at JC. 

"Yea, we know everything from I Want You Back to Pop!" 

She turned and looked at Ben. "BEN..go get a bath and change. I think you helped enough for one day." 

Ben jumped off the stool and ran past JC. Then he stopped and turned. "MR. Chasez, her best dance is for No Strings Attached ." 

"BEN!!!! Get up stairs." 

Now she knew how Allisa felt earlier. JC was just laughing. He would love to see her dance more if it meant she would be getting more...'Ok Chasez enough of those thoughts.' 

"Ok JC. I am sorry about that. I know I look like some lunatic fan. Which I am, I mean was but I promise I won't turn into a stalker or anything.." 

JC smiled at her. He wouldn't mind being stalked by her. "Really it's OK. You did do great on that dance. It took us forever to learn that." 

Georgie shrugged. "Well, Ben had it down in a few days. I guess I am just to old to learn this stuff that fast." 

"Hey don't let Chris hear you say that!" 

She smiled at him. Then she realized she was very sweaty and very smelly to boot. "Listen, you sit. There is a Pepsi left in the fridge. I am running to Tara's apartment. Need the shower!!" 

She ran off into her bedroom and got some clean clothes. "I will be right back. Ben should be done if a few. DO NOT listen to anything he says. He is an 8-year-old boy with a   
vivid imagination." 

JC laughed. "OK. I won't I promise. Hurry back." 

He winked at her and succeeded in making her blush. She ran out of her apartment to the one across the hall. 

JC stood up to look for that Pepsi. And he decided to take a look around her place. You can learn a lot by a persons house.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 

Allisa decided to take Lance down to where they had some race cars displayed. They were going to have different cars on different days. If she wasn't mistaken, both Dale Sr and Dale Jr's cars where going to be displayed that day along with Gordon's, Elliott's and a couple more. Maybe if they were lucky JR would be there. She smiled to herself. 'Right, like my luck would run that good.' 

Lance looked down at her. "What's that look for?" 

She blushed. There were times when she could be such a teeny bopper. This was one of them. "Well, I was just thinking, wondering,whatever you want to call it..if Junior was going to be here. That would be cool." 

"Yea that would be cool. I met him a little while back. He is nice guy." 

Allisa looked at him wide eyed. 

He laughed. "YES..if we see him I will introduce you." 

She giggled like a school girl. She turned and gave him a big hug. "Oh, thank you." 

"Well, if that's the reaction I get when I introduce someone to you, anyone else you want to meet? I've got connections, you know." 

He looked down at her and smiled. 

She smiled back and grabbed is hand. "Hmmmmm. Maybe Jeff Gordon. No, Kevin Harvick. No. Tony Stewart. I would love to meet Tony Stewart." 

Lance nodded his head. "I think that can be arranged somehow." 

They walk hand in hand to the facility that the cars were in. Allisa was looking at some of the NASCAR stuff that was for sale. She needed another baseball cap and maybe a new t-shirt for her and Ben. She really wasn't paying attention to what was in front of her until she heard Lance. 

"Well, I'll be.." Allisa looked up to see what Lance saw. Her eyes bugged out and she lost her breath. Her luck was going to stay good. Right in front of her was the #8 Budweiser Car. With Dale Earnhardt JR. standing having his picture taken and signing autographs. 

Lance looked down to see the look on Allisa's face. He started to laugh. "Ahh, I saw that look once before." 

She looked him. "Oh shut up. I did not give you that look. Ben was getting all my looks." 

They laugh "Well you ready to meet him?" 

Allisa swallowed hard. There was a massive crowd around him plus about two bodyguards. Not as much security as NSYNC gets but definitely more than your usual race car driver. 

"Lance, how are we going to get up there?" 

Lance gave her a look like 'Duh, it's ME, Lance Bass.' She smiled. "Oh yea well I forgot for a second that you were one of the special people." 

This statement made Lance smile really really big. He hugged her. "Thank you." 

She was bewildered. "Ok..your welcome. But what for?" 

She was clueless. "Because you forgot who I was. Like I was just a guy you were on a date with. It felt good." 

She smiled. "Well then you truly are welcome." 

She would have to remember to do things like that more often. His smile was downright sexy. His eyes sparkled when he was truly happy about something. 

Lance took her hand a made a path through the crowd. Lance whispers something to the bodyguard. The bodyguard looked at Allisa, who had a death grip on Lance's hand. 'Wish Georgie was here. Wish Georgie was here.' She kept thinking to herself. 

Finally Lance pulled her and they were standing in front of the one and only Dale Earnhardt Jr. Allsia stepped behind Lance. Usually she wasn't the cowardly type, but the day was turning out to be more than expected. 

"Lance, dude it's good to see ya again." 

She felt Lance drop her hand has Dale's sexy southern drawl greeted him. 'Ok so his accent is a little better than Lance's' 

"Dale, I would like you to meet a friend of mine." Lance stepped away and Allisa looked up at the most beautiful gorgeous blue eyes she had ever seen. 

"Dale, Allisa. Allisa, Dale." 

Dale reached his hand out to shake hers. He smiled at her. She really was a cute little thing. Allisa grabbed his hand shook it. 

"Nice to meet you Alissa." 

She almost died.The way he said her name. 'Dude, your here with Lance. Chill out' she reminded herself. 

"Nice me you too, Mr. Earn.." 

He interrupted her. "Call me Dale." 

She smiled at him. "OK. Nice to meet you Dale." 

Lance didn't like the way Dale was looking at Allisa so he stepped in and put his arm around her waist. The traditional 'she's mine back off' stance. Dale noticed this and smiled. He liked Lance. They had met about six months before hand and had hit off. They hung out and stuff for like three days. He was one of the few people he would like to call friend. SO he just nodded his head and turned to Allisa. 

"So what are you doing here with..what do the other guys call you..the Mississippi Albino?" 

Allisa broke out into laughter. Both guys looked at her. Both thought her laughter was one of the most beautiful things they had ever heard. 'OK JR down. She is with Lance,' he told himself. 

"Oh man. I am sorry. He..I...We..HE asked me out today   
at lunch and I said yes." She wiped the tears from her eyes from laughing so hard. 

Lance looked at her. "So you thought that was funny?" 

She nodded her head. "Oh yea. It was." 

"You guys coming to the race tomorrow?" Dale asked. 

"Well I can't. We've got rehearsal for the concert." Lance was a little disappointed. He had hoped to be able to catch it. 

"I'm not sure really." Both guys looked at her. "Oh sorry. The restaurant that I co-own is catering for you tomorrow. Breakfast and Lunch. I am not sure which one of us is coming." 

Dale smiled. The possibility that he would be able to see her again was enough to make him happy for a few hours. But, he wanted her to be there. he didn't know why but he did. "Cool. You co-own a restaurant?" 

She smiled. "Yea. With two of my friends and one really really good chef." 

"Well, how about if I hook you and your friends and chef up with some tickets and pit passes." 

Allisa looked at Lance, who looked less than thrilled. "Well, Sure. Georgie will be thrilled. Tara, well Tara will come because we are." 

She looks at Dale. "We are trying to convert Tara over to the love of NASCAR. She is being resistant. But we will overcome. Maybe going to a race instead of watching them on TV will help." 

Lance had hoped that she would say no. Dale was taking way to much interest in her. She was a little awestruck, but figured she was ok. 'Ok it has been one date. Not like she is your girlfriend.' 

"A live race is much more exciting." 

Allisa shrugged. "Ok. Sure. For all I know all three of us are going to cater tomorrow. I'll have my people call your people." She said with fake stuck up accent. This made Dale and Lance smile. 

"Ok you do that. I need to get back to signing stuff. Talk to ya'll later." 

Allisa watched as Dale walked away. 'Wow his butt is even cuter in person.' Lance grabbed her hand slightly irritated by what just transpired. They walk back through the crowd and she turns back to look at Dale one more time to see him looking at her. He smiles and winks at her. She smiles back and turns to follow Lance out of the building.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14 

Dale looked to where Allisa and Lance had walked out. He smiled again thinking about her laughter and the way her eyes sparkled. He was intrigued. 

Lance was his friend though. He didn't want to ruin that. Still, something about Allisa had him thinking. 'Dude,you have been inhailing way to many car fumes' He shook his head. He had only met her for all of 5 minutes. 

He put his attention back to the people that were waiting to meet him. A girl came up to him and smiled. Flirtatiously. 'Great,' he thought. He took the picture from her hand and asked her how long she had liked racing. He got the same answer almost every time "When you started to drive." It was nice to introduce a younger crowd to it but he wished they liked the racing. Not him. 

There were people who liked the racing. Those were the ones he really liked to talk to. Earlier in the day, he met a man who was probably 65. He had wanted to meet Dale because he followed his dad's career. The old man gave him the best compliment of his life. "Son, your like your dad. He had heart. You have heart. I see it. Keep up the good work." Things like that made the "rock-star" type atmosphere that surrounded him, worth it. He smiled again. He wanted to be like his dad. He missed him. He hoped he was proud of him. 

He looked back to another girl who had come up for an autograph and placed a smile on his face. This time he let the thoughts of Allisa and her smile invade his mind as went about doing what he did. 

~~~~~~ 

Lance was quiet walking back to his hotel. He was still holding onto Allisa's hand, but he could tell her mind was elsewhere. 'Damn, Junior' he thought. Things were going so good. He wasn't going to give up. He was from the south as well. He could lay on the southern charm if needed. It seems it might be needed. 

Allisa was unaware of Lance's sudden attitude change. She was just smiling. Dale had flirted with her. She was giddy. Not that he was serious about it, but it was still fun. And his eyes. She couldn't get over how gorgeous his eyes were. She felt a small tug on her hand and saw Lance looking at her. With his incredible eyes. She smiled at him. Lance had kissed her and now she found herself wondering if he was going to again. At the same time she was hoping that she would be theone catering tomorrow. To see Dale again. 

If she had stopped to think, she would have realized she was aiming for some serious trouble. 

~~~~~~~ 

JC had just come out of Georgie's study. He was trying so hard not to laugh. The poor girl had enough embarrassing things occur to her today, he wasn't sure if he wanted to add to it. 'Well,' he thought,'that's why you don't leave your computer on.' 

He did have to say that she had some talent. He was lost in his thoughts when Ben came out of the shower. 

"Where did aunt Georgie go?" 

JC looked at him. 

"She went to take a shower at Tara's" 

Ben smiled at JC. He was only 8, but he knew when someone liked someone. He liked Nina from school. He smiled like JC was when she was around. But, he didn't want anyone to take hisAunt Georgie from him. 

"JC when you marry Georgie, please live here. I don't want her to leave." 

JC spit out the swallow of Pepsi he had just drunk. Georgie was right. This kid had an imagination. 

He smiled at him. "I promise I won't take her from you." 

Ben nodded. "So did you see her bedroom yet? It has pictures of you all over the place." 

JC laughed. "Yes, in fact I did. I saw that. But don't tell her I did, OK? It can be our secret." 

Ben smiled big. "I love secrets." Ben ran into the study where Georgie kept an extra TV and a Play Station. JC sat on the couch. Waiting for her. Wondering how he could use the things he found to his best advantage. He knew it was mean, but she was so cute when she was flustered. 

Ten minutes later Georgie came in the apartment to see JC flipping through the channels. He looked up at her. She took his breath away. If he thought she was sexy before this was something else. She had her hair down and it was long. Very long. She had on a pair of jeans and t-shirt that said Rock Star. She was so pretty. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. 

She was looking at him funny. "What are you looking at?" 

 

JC blinked. "You." 

She blushed and took her stuff and threw it in the hamper. She went into the study and checked on Ben. She then noticed her computer was on. She had left it on because she was working on a....... 'Crap' she thought. She walked over. There it was. Her latest fan fic. About JC no less. Him on heroin. If JC had came in there he would have seen it. She whispered under her breath, "Dear god in heaven, please no" 

She shut it down and turned to see JC standing in the doorway. She knew. He read it. She wanted to cry. This was so not going to work out between them. How could it. She was obsessed. She knew it. Nothing she could do about it. 

She walked past him and wouldn't look him in the eyes. He wished she would look at him. He didn't think is what that big of deal. Everyone has fantasies. She just puts them down on paper. 

Georgie, like everything else, was going to face this. Face first. She turned to see JC standing looking at her. 

"OK, so when are you going to leave?" 

JC looked at her. "You want me to?" 

She laughed. "Well let's see, why would you want to stay? Hmmmmmm. let's run down the list. I broadcast sarcastically that I am having your baby thinking you were not there, you see me beating my head against a wall, you catch me dancing to your songs, you find the story I am writing about you. If I showed you my bedroom, you defiantly will run." 

JC held back a laugh. 

"O MY GOD! You did see my room. OK that's it. I'm killing myself." 

She stood up and started cleaning things and muttering stuff under her breath. There was no way she could keep a civil conversation going with him thinking she was a freak. 

She finally heard JC telling her to settle down. She then felt his hands on her shoulders. 

"Hey, calm down. It's not that big of deal." 

She turned to face him, not expecting him to be that close. She was crying. Actually crying. She never cried. But she had embarrassed herself so bad now what's the point of   
hiding them. She did the one thing she swore she would never do if she met him. Act like he was a pop star. 

"Hey why are you crying?" He reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes. 

"Ok switch places for just second. How would you feel?" 

JC smiled. Looking at it from her perspective, he could see why she would be distressed. 

"I just don't want you to think that I would be with you because of all that crap. I mean.. AHHHHHHH! " She screamed. "I can't even say what I want to say without it coming out wrong" 

JC smiled at her and then pulled her into a hug. "Hey,look. I know there are fans. I know people do this stuff. Some are freaks some aren't. I don't think you are. You haven't treated me any different or anything." He smiled at her. "But seriously, heroin? Did you forget I am afraid of needles?" 

She stepped away from him. "Well actually I explain in the story how you get that far." 

He shrugged. "Maybe I will finish reading it when your done." 

"When hell freezes over. Dude, you are privy to way too much of my NSYNC fascination." 

He looked at her and pulled her to him and kissed her. Her eyes were still open when their lips made contact. It took only a few seconds to get in the groove. She had never felt anything so wonderful in her life. 

He was lost. She responded to him the way no other girl ever did. He pulled back and looked in her eyes. He whispered, "you fascinate me." She blushed and stepped out of his arms. 

"OK, since you know pretty much every embarrassing detail of my life, I think I should tell you one more. Although after dancing, fan fiction, pictures on wall, this is really not that big of deal." 

JC nodded. "So tell me." 

Georgie sat down on the couch. "It's about how Tara and I hooked up with Allisa." 

JC sat down beside her as she explained how the three of them came together.


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 

Chris and Tara decided to go back to Tara'a apartment and order in. Mexican. Watch a couple of movies. Just get to know each other a little better. 

"So all of you live in this building?" 

Tara nodded. "Yup. We bought it outright about six months after the resturant opened. We still haven't figured out why   
it's such a big hit but it is. I think it's because of Mitch. That man can cook." 

Chris smiled at her. He looked to see his bodyguard still hovering. "What can Dre do while we are socializing?" 

Tara turned to see the bodyguard just looking around making sure Chris was safe. "He can eat with us." 

That's not what Chris had in mind. One of the biggest problems with Dani had been the constant never being alone. Even when he was home there was always somebody around. 

"Well I know he won't go home. Why doesn't he eat with us, and then maybe he can go hang with Georgie. He would still be in the building, but we could be   
alone." 

Beautiful and smart. He smiled. "That sounds like a plan." He turned and went and talked to Dre. Dre agreed. Chris came back and took hold of Tara's hand. 

"No problem." 

They smiled at each other. 

"The building is just another block." 

They walk in silence the rest of the of the way. Before they get to Tara's apartment, they stop at Georgie's. Chris sees JC on the couch and looks at him. Tara grabs Georgie and goes into the kitchen. 

Chris sits next to JC on the couch. "Oh I am just going to relax, he says. Yea right. I so knew you would be here." 

JC smiled at his friend. "How are things with Tara?" 

Chris smiled. "Great. She is so sweet. A little young, 22. But sweet. And do you know how they met Allisa?" 

JC started laughing. "Yup. Just got that story from Georgie. In fact I laughed for like ten minutes." 

Chris nodded. "So did I." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Tara noticed right away something was wrong with Georgie. "Hey girl what's wrong? You look like you have been crying?" 

Georgie looked at Tara. "Well, dude the embarrassment of the afternoon has continued into this evening." 

Tara looked confused. So Georgie explained what had transpired. Tara couldn't help it. She started laughing. She didn't know what was worse. 

"Girl, which made you feel worse, the story or the room?" 

Georgie decided that maybe this all was kind funny. SO she started laughing too. "I would have to say the story. HE READ IT, Tara. Said he wanted to finish reading it." 

Tara's eyes got big. "What did you tell him?" 

"When hell freezes over." They both laughed at that. 

Tara was just glad that Chris hadn't seen her room. She might not write fan fiction, but pictures of Chris were her wallpaper in her bedroom. She was just going to have keep him out of her room. 

"I wanted to ask you a favor," Georgie looked at her. 

"Ok shoot." Tara proceeded to explain what she wanted. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

JC was smiling. He wondered if Tara was as...ummm determined in her NSYNC pursuits. 

" Chris you want to hear something really funny?" Chris shrugged. 

"She is like an obsessed fan, but not a freak." JC laughed. 

Chris looked at him funny. "What do you mean?" 

JC went on tell him about all the things he had discovered about Georgie. 

After he was done, Chris was laughing so hard tears were coming out of his eyes. 

"Dude, the poor girl. If the stuff at the restaurant earlier wasn't bad enough. Did you read the story?" 

JC looked down at the floor. 

"YOU DID! Dude we swore we would never ever read that stuff. It would weird us out way to much." 

JC shrugged. "I couldn't help it. It was good though. She has some talent. I just think she needs some encouragement to write something non fan fiction." 

Chris nodded his agreement. "Hmmm. I wonder if Tara is any way like that?" 

JC looked at him. So far they knew Allisa had her room covered in pictures. Georgie, was well a fan to say the least. 

"How could she hang around these two and not be?" 

Chris wished there was some way he could find out. Just to have a little fun with her. JC knew what he was thinking. And he knew how to help. 

"Chris, Allisa was at Tara's taking a shower earlier. She threw the key to her apartment on the end table over there." 

He pointed to the table at the end of the couch. Chris got a huge grin on his face and jumped up and grabbed her keys. 

"Which one is it?" 

"The one right across the hall." 

Chris took off at a run and was across the hall in a matter of seconds. 

'Oh this is going to be rich,' JC thought. He saw Tara and Georgie come out of the kitchen. 

"Hey where did Chris go?" 

JC just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Georgie squinted her eyes. Something was up. She knew it. She just had to figure out what. Then she remembered Tara's apartment key. 

"JC You didn't?" 

JC smiled at her. "I didn't what?" 

Georgie didn't know if she should be mad or laugh. She decided on a big smile. 

"Tell her where he is JC. NOW?!?!" 

JC smiled. "Umm..he ahh..is at your apartment already." 

Tara looked at JC. "What do you mean?" 

"I mean he got the key off the table and went snooping." 

Tara's eyes got wide. "JESUS" She ran out of Georgie's apartment right into hers. She heard Georgie and JC laughing. 

"Christopher Allan Kirkpatrick where are you?" She heard him laugh. From her bedroom. 'O My God' That was the last place she wanted him to be. She walked slowly into her room with her eyes closed. 

"Oh come on. Open your eyes. It's not that bad really." 

She opened one eyes at a time. Very slowly, to see Chris laying on her bed. "I, ah.it's..ahgggggg. Now I know how Georgie felt." 

Chris laughed and pulled her down next to him. 

"All I have to say is the only thing your missing is the Chris comforter." 

She looked over at him. "Yea well, I looked." 

They laughed. He looked at her and smiled. 

"Well, guess what?" 

"What?" 

"You have a Chris comforter now." He streched out across the bed, throwing his arms and legs out as far as he could. 

She now knew that she would have no trouble falling in love with this man. She smiled at him. 

"What happens if I have to dry clean it?" 

He pulled her down next to him. "It's self cleaning. You won't be without it for very long. I promise." She smiled and closed her eyes. 

He put his arm around her a looked about the room when he noticed an exact replica of the jacket with the flames on the arms that he wore in the picture for the PopOdyssey Tour. 

"Hey nice jacket." 

Tara had forgot all about it. She laughed. "Thanks. I couldn't resist when I saw it." 

Chris nodded his head. "I know what you mean." He squeezed her and she smiled, then both of them fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 

All the way back to the hotel Lance was silent. He was unsure as to why the events with Dale had upset him. First, Allisa was not his girlfriend. YET. Second, they had only been around Dale for like 10 minutes. Lance shook his head as he pushed the button for his floor. He looked over at Allisa who seemed to be in her own little world. She was beginning to notice that Lance was upset about something. She had no clue what. It couldn't have been because of Dale. 'Or could it?' she thought to herself. 

She looked up at him. She didn't want Lance to be upset. She was having such a good time and she wanted things to work out for her and Lance. She didn't take any of the looks or anything that Dale threw her way seriously. Allisa read the articles about him. Junior liked the girls. They liked him back as well. She knew that taking serious any attention from Dale was asking for trouble. It just felt good that he wanted to flirt with her. 

Lance caught Allisa eye and she smiled at him. Maybe he didn't have anything to worry about. After all, they had just met as well. He had no idea where the fierce need to be possessive came from. They had only just met six hours ago. Lance smiled at her. He still had a hold of her hand. "So what are we going to do for the rest of the night? I am betting that Chris and Tara are still out. Ten bucks says JC caved and went over to see Georgie." 

Allisa looked up at him. "O man, we left Ben here. Maybe you should just take me home so JC and Georgie could have some time alone." Lance opens his hotel room and throws his keys and wallet on the desk. Allisa looks around and starts to chuckle. Her surroundings were so typical bachelor pad that she had to laugh. Lance looks at her. "What's so funny?" 

She looked around the room again. "Well," she kicked a pair of jeans and what she figured to be boxer shorts at him. "I do believe you guys are slobs." Lance picked up the clothes. "NO. Justin is a slob. Followed closely by Chris and Joey. JC and I try our darndest to keep a clean room. But they are no help at all. And for some unknown reason they all have to get ready in the same room. Which is usually mine. Like we don't spend enough time together." 

Lance threw the pants and boxers on one of the beds. Allisa sat down on the other bed. She was not sure if those boxers were worn or not. She didn't want to take any chances. "Can I give Georgie a call, see if she wants me to come home so she and JC can be alone?" Lance nodded his head. "Sure, I am going to go next door and see what's up with J and Brit, they had a fight earlier." "Thanks." 

Allisa dials Georgie's apartment. It took longer than usual for her to answer the phone. "Hello?" Allisa wondered why Georgie was out of breath. "Georgie, what's going on?" She heard a lot of laughter. "Hey JC not fair!! You pushed him!! Sorry Lissa, JC is a big cheater." Allisa laughed. "What are you guys doing?" "We are playing Twister." Allisa laughed again. "Who is we?" "Me, and JC and Ben and Chris and Tara and Dre. Dre is actually very balanced for being a big guy." 

Allisa was silent for a second. "Dre. The bodyguard. Is playing Twister." Georgie laughed at Allisa's shock. "Yea, so?" "Hey whatever, I was just calling to see if you wanted me to come home and get Ben. So you and JC can have some alone time." Georgie looked at everyone playing. "Nah. We are all having fun. You and Lance have a good time" Allisa smiled. "Well if your sure, I will make sure I am home soon." "Ok have fun. Buh Bye." Georgie hung the phone up and turned back to the game. 

Lance walked back into the room. "Something is up with Brit and J. She is over in Joey's room crying and Justin is no where to be found." Lance sat own next to Allisa and looked at her. "I am so sorry. I hope it wasn't because of Georgie. She is always saying things without thinking." Lance shook his head. "No. She was just telling him like it was. We all have been feeling like that but never say anything because we don't want to hurt him. He has been an ass. To everyone for the last 6 months or so. He needs to get his head out of his butt. Today Britney finally said something to him. After Georgie did. I'm sure he will snap out of it." 

Lance stood up and walked out onto the balcony. He was really worried about Justin. Allisa could tell it was bothering him and followed him out. "I am sure he will be. After all, he started in this so young. It might just be going to his head a little. I'm sure if you guys and Britney all help him he will work it out." 

Lance turned to look at her. She looked so beautiful standing there. He smiled at her and she walked into his arms. He looked down at her. Slowly he put his lips to hers. She had never felt anything so wonderful in her life. All thoughts of Justin and his ego problems, Dale, and Georgie's Twister game fled. 

The same thing happened to Lance. She tasted sweet. He couldn't get enough of her kiss. He deepened the kiss and she responded. He never felt anything like it before. Like she was taking his very soul away from him. Lance knew that after this kiss he would never be the same. 

Allisa was having the hardest time remaining standing. Her knees were weak and she could swear her heart rate tripled. He was ripping her soul from her body with this kiss and she didn't want him to stop. She knew that things would never be the same after this. 

They both heard the phone ring at the same time. Lance raised his head and looked at her. "Wow." He said to her. She nodded her head. "Yea, wow is right." They smiled at each other. "You better go get that. It might be Justin." Lance put his hand on her cheek. "Ok I will be right back. We need to talk." He kissed her forehead and went into the room. 

Allisa closed her eyes and clamed her racing heart. She turned to sit on one of the lounge chairs that were on the balcony. She sat down laid her head back and closed her eyes. She touched her lips and whispered, "wow" one more time. 

Lance came back out and saw her sitting on one of the chairs. He tapped her shoulder and she moved to get up. "No, just sit up." She did and he scooted in behind her. He pulled her back so that she was laying against his chest. He had brought out a blanket and covered them up. She kicked off her sandals and closed her eyes. "So, Lance we need to talk." "Yes, we do."


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 

Chris, Tara and Ben had finally got the better of Dre and he came toppling down. Which made the three of them fall as well. Georgie was never good at the game of Twister and being that close to JC just made any balance she had go right out the window, so she was one of the first ones out. Watching the others play proved to be highly entertaining so she didn't mind. 

Chris looked at his watch. "Geez, it's 9PM already. JC dude we have to be in rehearsals at 7AM. We should head back to the hotel." JC looked as his watch as well. 'Wow time flies,' he thought. He looked at Georgie who was still laughing at Dre and his predicament. He had no idea why Dre would even play Twister. It was not a Dre thing to do. "So Dre, did you have fun?" Dre looked up at Georgie. He scowled at her. He had no idea what possessed him to play. But he did. He had fun. "Yea actually I did. Thanks. Thanks for the food too. That chef of yours is really good." 

He stood up and walked over to shake Georgie's hand. "What is that?" She looked at him and smiled. She pulled him into a hug. "It was nice to meet you Dre." He smiled at her and turned back to Chris and JC. "OK guys we gotta head back." Chris stood up and pulled Tara with him. "Ok hold on, I left my coat in Tara's apartment. I will be right back." 

Chris ran out and over into her apartment. JC looked at Georgie. He wasn't going to leave just yet. Convincing Dre of that would be tough. Sneaking out was one thing, the bodyguards couldn't do anything about that. Trying to get them to willingly leave him behind was next to impossible. "Dre, I am going to stay for a little longer." Dre looked at him. JC knew he was in for a fight. "Come on, I snuck over here without incident, I can sneak back. Besides look at me. Who would recognize me in these clothes?" 

Dre and Georgie both looked at him. Then looked at each other. "He has a point Dre," Georgie smiled. "I mean really. He looks like he was heading out for six pack and some smokes and got distracted." Dre and Georgie laughed. JC smiled too. When he left he didn't event think about what he was wearing. A pair of old sweatpants, and a t-shirt. Sneakers and a baseball hat. Who would think that JC Chasez of NSYNC would go out in public looking like that? He was safe that was for sure. 

Dre rolled his eyes. "OK. But you call when you leave so I can look for you." JC winked at Georgie. "Deal." Dre walked out into the hallway to wait for Chris. "Well, Ben you want to come to my apartment and hang for a while? Maybe make a tent in the living room and you can camp out overnight? You got school tomorrow." 

Ben wanted to stay with JC and Georgie but he knew that they might want to be alone. "Sure Tara." He turned to JC and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you JC." JC smiled at the little boy. "Nice to meet you too, Ben. We should get together again sometime." 

Ben's face lit up. No one was going to believe that he hung out with JC and Chris from NSYNC. Nina was going to like him for sure now. Ben left Georgie's apartment and headed for Tara's. "I concur with Ben there. Nice to meet you." Tara smiled and held out her hand for JC. "Nice meeting you too." Tara turned to leave. "Well you two have fun. Don't worry about Ben. I guess I will see you tomorrow." She smiled and winked at Georgie. Georgie smiled back. 

~~~~~ 

Chris found his jacket on the floor in Tara's bedroom. He looked at the bed where they had fallen asleep until Georgie had rudely woken them up. But when he found out Dre was going to play Twister he was awake in a flash. As he was walking out of the room he saw all of Tara's earrings sitting on her dresser. He picked up the dolphin one that caught his eye. 

He smiled to himself and took out one of the diamond studs he was wearing and put the dolphin on in his ear. He looked around for a piece of paper. He found one on a desk in the corner of the room. He wrote a note, attached his earring to it and laid it on her bed and walked out. Tara was in the living room with Ben setting up a tent of some sort. 

Ben spoke up. "Hey we are camping out!" Chris smiled. "I see that. You two have fun, I gotta get going." He walked towards the door and Tara followed. "Get some rest Chris." He smiled at her. "I promise." 

Tara opened the door and saw JC and Georgie still talking to Dre. "Ok I'm ready." Dre said good-bye to the other three and Chris followed him down the hall. He stopped dead in his tracks. Turned around and before Tara shut the door pushed it open. "What?" Tara asked surprised. "I forgot something." "Oh, ok." 

She stepped back to let him in when he grabbed her and pulled her in for a kiss. She was so shocked it took her second to realize what was happening then she gave herself to the kiss. Chris raised his head and smiled at her. 

"There all better." Tara smiled at him and it took his breath away. She had a beautiful smile. "Now I really have to go." "Ok, get." Chris kissed her one more time really quick and turned and left. Tara looked across the hall to see Georgie looking at her. They both broke into huge smiles and did their dance. Georgie like to call it the "yehaw dance." Then they composed themselves and went into their apartments.


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18 

Georgie shut the door and turned around to JC standing right in front of her. "GOD! JC. Stop doing that.You are going to kill me before the day is out." He smiled at her and walked closer to her. She stopped with her back against the door. 

"So Miss Georgie, what are we going to do?" She looked at him wide eyed. "I have no idea." He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. JC winked at her and turned and walked away. He knew exactly what he was doing to her. He smiled to himself. It was the same thing she was doing to him without even trying. 

Georgie came back to reality. "Why don't you lay on the couch and watch a movie while I clean up a little. Then we can talk and stuff." JC nodded his head. "Sounds like a plan." He laid down and Georgie grabbed a blanket and covered him up. Just before she stood up she leaned in a brushed her lips on his. 'Two can play this game,' she thought. "You rest up." Then she stood up leaving JC with the same feelings she had been left with minutes earlier. 

~~~~~ 

Lance looked at his watch. It was 9PM. He and Allisa had been talking for over three hours. He needed to get some sleep. Soon. The guys had an earlier rehearsal for the concert. He just didn't' want her to go. He had never met another girl who fit him so perfectly. It was a little scary, but nice. He knew he could fall in love with her, if he hadn't already. 

He was never the one for the whole love at first sight stuff, but Allisa was different. Allisa was just siting contentedly in Lance's arms. He was absolutely wonderful. They were so made for each other it was scary. 

Allisa was a little skeptical about love and everything that goes with it, but Lance definitely could change her mind, if it wasn't already changed. She wouldn't mind being held like this by him all the time. They had talked about everything. from kids to music to religion and beyond. 

Lance explained how being in NSYNC had changed his life in so many ways that most people don't know. Allisa talked in depth about her relationship with Ben's dad and how that all had gone wrong. They shared. Emotionally. It was refreshing for both of them. Lance because he was so used to having to keep a part himself hidden that sharing things like this was hard for him. 

Allisa had never really talked too much about herself to anyone. Even Georgie and Tara didn't know everything. Lance did. Now. After only a few hours. Lance sat up a little and Allisa sat up with him. "I think my ass is asleep." Lance broke out into laughter. "I think I know what you mean." They both stood up trying to get their legs to work after 3 hours of not moving. 

They looked at each other and started laughing. "Boy do we look funny. Limping around on legs that are asleep." Allisa nodded her head. After a few minutes, they started walking better. "Hey, Lissa. I really need to get to bed. We have an early day tomorrow. I'm sorry." Allisa smiled and walked into the hotel room. "Hey no problem. I really should get home and check on Ben." 

Lance followed her into his room, when there was a knock on his door. He went and opened it. Chris came walking in. "Hey where is JC?" Chris smiled. "He decided to stick around at Georgie's for a little bit." Lance smiled and looked at Allisa. "I really need to get Ben then." "Oh don't worry. Last I saw Tara and him were planning a camping excursion in her living room. I was invited but work calls." Allisa smiled. "Well, that's good." 

She looked up to see Dre come in. She then remembered the Twister game. "So big guy, did you win the game or what?" Dre smiled. "Chris and Tara knocked me down. Took awhile but they did. It was fun." Lance looked confused. "What game?" Allisa never got to explain it. They had been sidetracked. "Let Chris explain. I need to get going and you," she pointed at Lance, "need to get to sleep." 

Lance followed her out of the hotel room and walked her to the elevators. "I had the best time Lance." She smiled at him. "So did I. I will call you sometime tomorrow." "Ok. But here is my cell phone number. We have that catering job tomorrow so I might be there." Lance forgot about that. They were going to cater for Junior and his crew. That feeling came up again, but he told himself to chill because he and Allisa were going to do just fine. There was no need to worry about Dale Jr. "So if you don't get me at home try that." 

She handed Lance the piece of paper and turned to the elevator as it dinged it's arrival. Lance smiled. "Your chariot awaits milady," he said as he bowed in front of her. She laughed and punched him in the arm. She liked that part of Lance. He could be serious and then he could be silly. She stepped on the elevator and Lance held it with his hand. He leaned in and kissed her. "See ya soon, Lissa." 

She smiled and kissed him back. "Yea, see ya soon." She kept smiling as the elevator doors closed and made their decent. Lance watched the numbers above the elevator until he knew she was off. Then he went back into his room to get an explanation about the game.


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19 

By the time Allisa arrived at her apartment, she was exhausted. She was unsure of whether she was going to get any sleep. She was so excited about all that had transpired that day. She contemplated going to see Georgie or Tara but both apartments were quiet when she walked by indicating that they were asleep. She smiled as she thought of Ben and Tara in one of their famous tents. 

She also smiled at how the three of them all met and got the undivided attention of the men they had drooled, gasped, sighed, and squeed over. It really was a great day. She walked into her apartment and saw her machine blinking. 

She hit play. The first message was from her mom and dad wanting to have Ben for a few days over Thanksgiving. The second was from Georgie. "Ok so your not home yet. Just for fun on the count of three..1..2..3..SQUEEEEEE. Ok now that that is done, we have to be at the race tomorrow at 6:30AM. YES, WE. All three of us. Allisa breath. Ok well goodnight and see you in the AM." 

That was the end of her messages. She walked into her bedroom and turned on the light and was greeted by all the pictures of Lance gracing her walls. 'This is sooooooo surreal', she thought. She looked around her room and decided that since thi had changed in the way she looked at Lance, that it would be a good idea to take down her stuff. Put them away. She looked at the clock. 10:30PM. She had some time. She took off her coat and started with the pictures and stuff on her closet door. 

~~~~~ 

Georgie had came and checked on JC. He was dead to the world. She looked at him sleeping and smiled. She fought the urge to lay down next to him and sleep. She put another blanket on him and quietly walked into her room. She looked at the display from JC's viewpoint. 'How the heck did he not think I was a freak?' Given the circumstances she decided it would be best to take theses things down. She would just keep her pictures up of the sound check she went to in Buffalo, before she moved to Florida. 

~~~~~~ 

Tara made sure that Ben was asleep and she walked into her bedroom. She saw a piece of paper on her pillow so she walked over and picked it up. It was a note from Chris and there was an earring on it. 

Tara, Hey I took one of your dolphin earrings, here is one of mine you can wear. See ya soon. Chris 

She smiled and took it off the paper and put it her ear. She was never going to take it off. She looked around her room. She too decided to remove the teeny-bopper-esque pictures from her wall. After all things had changed considerably in her outlook on these guys. It was about midnight when the three girls were done taking down the pictures and putting things away. Georgie had fallen asleep as soon as she hit the pillow. Tara and Allisa went down just as fast. 

~~~~~~ 

JC slowly opened his eyes and stretched. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was. When he did he smiled, realizing that Georgie let him sleep. He looked at his watch. It was only 4:30 in the morning. He stretched again and decided to use the bathroom. 

He walked towards the bathroom which was just past Georgie's room. He stopped and looked in and smiled. The first thing he noticed was how she fell asleep on top of the covers. Second was that all of her pictures were gone. She had taken them all down. All except some from a sound check she must have been at. 

'Strange,' he thought. 'I was actually close to her one other time in my life and didn't notice.' He was thinking how weird life was. He walked in and put a blanket over her, then went to use the bathroom. On his way back he stopped and looked at Georgie one more time. He was content. He wanted this to work. JC walked back into the living room, fighting the urge to curl up next to Georgie on the bed, and laid back down on the couch.


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20 

BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. Georgie hit snooze on her alarm. She had it set for 6:00AM. She needed to get ready for work and she wanted to make sure JC was up. He had a 7:30 meeting or something so he had to be back at the hotel to get ready. She rolled over and hit the alarm off. She stretched and walked out into the living room to the smell of coffee. 

She saw JC sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup coffee. "Hey, morning, sunshine." Georgie glared at him. One thing she was not was a morning person and she hated anyone who was cheerful so early. "How the heck can you be so happy at the butt crack of dawn?" JC laughed. 

He had never heard that statement before. But leave it to Georgie to come up with it. "I have been up for an hour or so." "Hmmph." Georgie grabbed a cup and poured herself some coffee. She would have preferred Pepsi but JC had the last one the night before. JC realized that she was like Justin. You don't talk to them for a while after they wake up. He smiled at her and turned back to the paper he was reading and took another sip of coffee. 

~~~~~~~ 

The alarm in Allisa's room was going off. She was a good one for drowning it out. She was often late to her classes because she would sleep right through it. She had yet to find one that was obnoxious enough for her to wake up to. 

When she finally stirred it had been going off for nearly 20 minutes. She stretched and got out of bed. She walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She went into the bathroom and started her shower. She had 10 minutes to get ready. She was going to see Junior again and she was a little excited. 

She was telling herself to remember that any attention that he paid her was not serious. Junior was not serious about any girl. Besides she had Lance now. Or she thought she had Lance. Yes. She was sure she had Lance. With the way they left each other the day before there was no thinking about it. She and Lance were together. For some reason this fact just seemed to set into her. She started to cry. She spoke out loud to no one in particular. "O MY GOD! I am Lance Bass's girlfriend." 

Yes. She definitely was going to be on her best behavior with Junior. She got done with her shower and got dressed just as Georgie and Tara came prancing in the apartment with JC following them . She looked at Georgie and smiled. "He slept on the couch, Allisa. Chill out. We have to drop him off at his hotel before we get to the race. I called Carrie last night and she is at Tara's with Ben already." 

Allisa was surprised how organized Georgie could be. Most of the time it was a case of 'if her head wasn't attached she would lose it.' "Ok good. I just want to stop and see him for a second. He was asleep when I got home last night." She picked up her purse and went out the door. Tara followed her and JC grabbed Georgie's hand and they walked out. 

Allisa went into Tara's apartment to see Ben and the three of them went to Georgie's car. While they waited for Allisa to come out they made small talk. Tara was almost asleep as soon as they got in. "She is a worse morning person than I am." JC laughed. "Well, neither of you is as bad as Justin. He is the worse." Georgie laughed. "I heard that." 

She smiled at JC. "So what are you doing tonight?" Then she hit her head. "Duh me. The concert is tonight. And we have tickets." JC laughed. "You bought tickets?" "Oh yea. The three of us were so not going to miss this chance." "Well, then after the concert you guys are gonna hang with us. I am sure I speak for Chris and Lance when I say that." Georgie nodded. "I am sure you do. And I speak for Tara and Allisa when I say we will do just that." 

They both laugh and JC leans over and gives her a quick kiss. He hits the tip of her nose. "You are a riot." She smiled at him as Allisa got in the car. "Ok Ben said he loved me and that he would behave himself. I told him if he didn't then no concert for him tonight." JC looked at her. "Ooooooo harsh." Allisa smiled. "Well, sometimes you do what ya gotta do." 

JC nodded his head. He knew that. With younger brothers and sisters sometimes you had to be rough. "Hey Georgie can I use your cell?" She nodded. "Yea, it's in my purse somewhere." JC looked at her funny. She laughed. "Exactly what more do you think you could find that would embarrass me?" 

The whole car laughed at that. Well, except Allisa. "What do you mean?" Tara snorted next to her. "Where do you want her to start? The story he found and read or the dancing he saw her doing?" Allisa's eyes got wide. "OH MY GOD!!!!" 

JC turned to look at her. "Yup. But hey, I guess we got all that stuff out of the way so it should be smooth sailing from here." JC dialed a number. "Hey, I am on my way over. I will be there in like 5 minutes. Can you get three passes for the girls, make that 4 because Ben is coming too. They got tickets for tonight. Ok cool. See in a few." "Well, girls. Joey is commandeering some passes so that right after the concert you guys can get backstage with us." 

~~~~~ 

"Who was that?" Joey looked at Chris. "It was JC. He is on his way back. He wants me to get four passes for the girls and Ben. They are going to be at the concert tonight. I think.." he looks at Chris and Lance, "that all three girls were in the car with him." Lance and Chris look at each other and then bolt for the door. 

Joey laughed as he watched his two friends race to see who could get to the door first. He turned to see where Britney had fallen asleep the night before. He felt bad for her. People just didn't understand her. He knew how it felt to be judged. Then there was Justin. Justin was being an ass. Brit didn't deserve any of it. Joey sighed and went to finish getting ready. 

He was in the bathroom brushing his teeth when he heard Justin storm in the room. "What in the hell is this?" Joey walked out to see Justin looking at Britney sleeping in the bed. "J, chill. She just fell asleep here. You left her here. I was the only one that stuck around." By this time she had waken up because of all the shouting. "Hey." She smiled at Justin. "J I missed you last night." Justin scowled at her. "Sure you did. Must not have missed me that much." 

Her eyes teared up at his implication. "Justin, ya know what? So what if I was with Joey last night? Why should you care? I mean you never pay any attention to me anyhow." Britney stood up and walked over to Joey and planted a kiss on him. Joey was shocked at first then he let himself enjoy it. "See ya later Joe." 

She winked at him and then left the room. Justin was standing there staring in disbelief at what he just saw. "No. She was bluffing." He turned and chased after Britney. Joey for his part was smiling from ear to ear. He had always wondered what it would be like to kiss her. Now he knew. It was nice.


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 

Just as Georgie pulled up to drop JC off, Chris and Lance came running out of the building. Chris knocked on the window and scared the crap out of Tara. "Jesus, Chris don't do that again." He smiled at her. "Sorry, I just wanted to say hi before you left for work." Tara smiled. "HI!" Chris smiled. "HI!" 

Allisa and Georgie laughed. If there were two people made for each other it was Tara and Chris. Lance opened Allisa's door and pulled her out. "Good morning to you too." Lance didn't say anything he just pulled her into a kiss. A very long kiss. He was worried about her being with Dale all day. He saw how he was with her and he knew how Junior was with girls. "You, behave yourself today." 

Allisa smiled. Lance was jealous. She smiled at him. "I promise." She gave him a kiss. "I will see you tonight." "Ok see ya then. have fun." Allisa got into the front seat of the car. JC leaned in the open window on Georgie's side of the car. "Ok be careful today. I don't want any of those hot race car drivers sweeping you off your feet." Georgie laughed. "Can't happen. Already been swept off my feet. Can't happen twice in the same week." JC smiled and he kissed her. "See ya tonight." "Yup. Tonight." "Ok Chris out. We need to work and so do you. You will see each other tonight." 

Tara laughed and told Chris to get out as well. They gave each other a quick kiss. "See ya tonight." Just as they were about to pull away Joey ran out. "WAIT!! You guys need these." He handed them the backstage passes. "Yea. These would be helpful. Thanks." 

Joey stepped away from the car and Georgie drove off. Lance, Chris and JC stood there until they couldn't see the car anymore. "Alright guys, we have 5 minutes to get ready." JC looked at his friends and then realized he was still in his sweatpants and stuff. "Dudes I gotta get ready." He turned and ran up to his room. 

~~~~~ 

It was about a ten minute drive from the hotel to the race track. They were quiet for the first part, until they couldn't contain their excitement any longer. "Ok guys. We are here. We must be professional. Calm down." Georgie parks the car and the three of them get out. "Ok guys let's do it." 

~~~~~ 

Junior was pacing around the banquet room where they were going to have breakfast. For the life of him he could not get any sleep the night before. He kept thinking about Allisa. He knew that his reputation with women was less than appealing. He just never had found the right one. He sat down on a chair and looked at his watch. 7:15. He knew they should be there by 7:30. 

The door opened and some of his pit crew came walking in. By 7:30 pretty much everyone form the racing team was there. They were all talking amongst themselves. He was watching the door. When the door opened and he was three girls walk in he got very excited. 

The last one to walk in was the object of his thoughts. Allisa. He walked up to her and smiled. Allisa blinked as she realized who was standing in front of her. "Dale, hi!" "HI Allisa." They smiled at each other. 'Allisa behave yourself. Remember Lance.' "Need any help?" 

Allisa smiled. He was so sweet. So was Lance. "No. You just sit down. We've got people here to help us." She walked over to Georgie and Tara. "Wow, Lissa. He is soooooooooo much cuter in person." Allisa and Georgie giggled. "Yea well I want to meet Tony Stewart." They looked at Tara. "Party pooper." 

The three girls smile as they begin to prepare things for breakfast. Dale couldn't keep his eyes off of Allisa. Something about her moved him. He smiled to himself. Then he scowled. One thing was plaguing him. Lance. He was so obviously taken with her. He couldn't hurt his friend like that. 'It just wasn't fair' he thought. 

Someone taped him on his shoulder. He turned to see Allisa standing there looking at him. "Earth to Dale." He smiled at her. "What do you want to drink?" 'YOU' He shook the thought from his head. "Um..just some coffee." She poured the coffee for him and went to the next person.


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22 

Dale's cousin was watching him very closely. He saw how he looked at the blonde girl. He was sure he had never seen that look on Dale's face before. He was in total awe of the girl standing before him. Tony smiled to himself. 'Well, it's about time.' He got up and went over to talk to him. 

"Hey Junior." Dale looked to see his cousin standing by his chair. He took his foot off of the chair next to him and motioned for him to sit. "So things ready for today?" Tony nodded his head. "Yup. Everything should be in working order. What about you? Are you ready for today?" 

Dale looked at him. "I am always ready. When have you ever known me not to be ready?" Tony laughed. Dale was 100%..no make that 200% committed to his racing career. Tony never worried about that. It was other stuff that he worried about. Like Junior's life off of the race track. 

Tony knew his cousin was a wild one. He partied with him a lot. There were always plenty to entertain him. Tony was worried. Especially after Dale Jr's dad died he kinda went a little crazy. He had gotten better the last couple of months, but he was still living dangerously close to the edge. Women. Booze. Parties. More women. The string of women he had or could have were endless. Of course, the press and fans didn't know this. They thought Junior was growing up. But those close to him knew differently. 

That's why Tony was intrigued by the way Dale was reacting to the blond waitress. Tony decided to just ask about her. "Junior, you know that girl?" Dale looked at his cousin with a confused look. "What girl?" Tony raised an eyebrow and took a sip of coffee. "The one you have been staring at for the last hour." Dale looked down at his hands folded on the table. 

"Am I that obvious?" Tony chuckled. "Only to those that are caring to notice anything. Do you know her?" Dale nodded his head. "Yea. her name is Allisa. I met her yesterday. I don't know..." he looked up to where she was talking to Georgie and Tara.."there is something about her. I only talked to her for like 10 minutes, but she got under my skin somehow. I know this is unusual for me. I know my reputation. She is just different. I would love to get to know her better." 

Dale sighed as again realized the futility of wanting something you could never have. Like getting his dad back. He would love nothing more than to see his dad standing by his Number 3 car and have him cheering him on. But, that would never happen. Dale Sr. was only living in the memories of his family and legions of fans. Fans who put all their love and energy behind the son. Dale Junior. 

"Why the look of defeat Junior? Why can't you get to know her?" Dale looked at Tony and the back at Allisa. "She is with Lance. Lance Bass. I can't do that to him. He's my friend." Tony nodded his head in understanding. Dale was finding it hard to make new friends now that he was so popular, but Lance seemed to do that. Tony knew they talked almost once a week. 

" There is nothing saying that you guys can't be friends. Just talk to her. You could always use new friends." Tony stood up and went to talk to some other people. 'Could he just be friends with her?' Dale thought to himself. He watched as Allisa got a plate of food and sat down. He grabbed his drink and went over to where she was sitting. 

"Hey Allisa." She looked up and smiled at him. Again almost losing herself in his eyes. Those blue, sexy, bedroom...' ok Allisa calm yourself. Remember Lance.' "Hey Dale, care to join me?" Dale smiled and sat down next to her. 

"That chef of yours is a great cook." Allisa nodded her head. "You should come to the restaurant sometime. This is nothing compared to that. I swear the only reason we are still in business is because of Mitch."   
"I'm sure that definitely helps. Without good food, what do you have? Just a place to sit." Allisa nodded. "So true. So true. Are you nervous about the race?" She asked trying to not sound overly excited that she was carrying on a conversation with him. 

"I am always a little nervous. There are a lot of unknown elements in racing. But once I am in the car it's all good. I relax and just go with it." Allisa smiled. "Yea, and Wilson is there to keep you company right?" Dale laughed. What started out as a joke had taken on a life of it's own. 

"What can I say, I have weird obsessions." Allisa snorted at that. "You have no idea what an obsession is. Trust me on this. I am sure that Georgie or I could top you in that department." Dale raised an eyebrow at her. "Really, whom or what are you obsessed with young lady?" 

Allisa thought for a second. 'This question could get me in trouble.' "Well you have to promise not to laugh." Dale smiled. He raised his two fingers up. "Scouts honor." "NSYNC. I have a serious, serious obsession with NSYNC. Not that that is how I met Lance, they were in our restaurant yesterday, but it makes things a little strange. So, one of the things I am obsessed about is NSYNC." 

Dale wanted to laugh. Lance had told him one time how he would never date a fan. To much weirdness. Which proves again that Allisa was something special. 'It's just not fair,' Dale thought. 

"You said one of the things, what is the other thing your obsessed with?" Allisa almost choked on her food. 'he is a good listener.' 

She looked at him. He looked at her. Their eyes locked and Dale felt his pulse quicken. He knew there was nothing he could do. Someone was going to get hurt. Either him or Lance or Allisa. His first priority was Allisa. She should not be hurt in any way. 

"Sooooooo, the other obsession, what is it?" 

Allisa gulped. How the heck was she going to get out of this? She never was the up front type of girl. Georgie was much better at this kind of thing. Maybe she should just be like Georgie. Tell him straight out. Take a chance. 

She looked in his eyes again. This time she felt herself falling into them. 'Damn. I am in trouble.' 

"Well...." 

Without missing a beat she looked in his eyes again and whispered, "you."


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23 

Dale blinked. 'Well, ' he thought, 'interesting development.' He smiled at her. For some reason this made him feel good. He then noticed how she turned red and looked down. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "That's good." He stood up and walked towards his cousin letting her think on that for a little while. 

Allisa's head shot up as she watched him walk away.'What the heck...' She blinked and continued to stare at him. He looked up and saw her staring. 

He left the room and hoped that she would follow. He just wanted to talk and without a bunch of people around. He was still firm in his stance in not hurting Lance. 

Allisa stood up to follow him. Almost of her own free will. Thinking the whole time that she was just getting to know one of Lance's friends. 

He was waiting for her by an elevator door. "So you wanna go see the car?" Allisa smiled. "You mean THE car?" Dale nodded. "Yes. THE CAR." "Heck ya, lead the way." 

~~~~~~~ 

Georgie and Tara were watching the proceedings very carefully. "Houston, we have a problem!" Tara laughed. "Ya think? What should we do? There was way too much...I don't what it was but it didn't look good." Georgie nodded. She didn't think Allisa would do something stupid. Or at least not too stupid. Allisa wouldn't do anything intentionally to hurt Lance, but it would have taken a blind person not to notice the chemistry between Dale and Allisa. 

"Dude, I have an idea." Georgie looked at Tara. "What?" "Call Lance. Have him call her cell. That will shock her into remembering." "Tara I don't think she actually forgot Lance, she just is having a momentary..." "Case of head up butt disease?" Georgie smiled. "I guess we could call it that." With a sigh, Georgie got out her cell and dialed JC's cell. She didn't have Lance's number on her. 

For some reason she got nervous. What do you say to a man you spent an entire day with and bonded with and probably fell for? 'HI' Georgie laughed at the conversation she just had with herself as someone answered the phone. 

"Hello?" She smiled. "JC...it's.." Before she could finish, JC interrupted. "Hey beautiful! I miss you." If JC could have seen the look on Georgies face he would have laughed. "Um..JC this is Georgie." She acted like he thought she was someone else. 

JC laughed at the shocked tone in her voice. "I know baby, I know it's you. Still don't change anything. Hey beautiful!" JC repeated it. "HI JC." Georgie momentarily forgot why she called. JC had the sexiest voice. She shook her head to clear it. 

"I know your busy, but I need to talk to Lance is he around?" "Now I am pouting. You don't want to talk to me?" "I would love to talk to you, but if we start we will never finish. I want to talk when you are all mine. For a long period of time." JC smiled to himself. "I am all yours." This statement was met with silence as Georgie digested what he had just said. 

Georgie smiled and for once had nothing to say. "JC, I..Wow." JC chuckled. "Good wow or bad wow?" "A very good wow." JC smiled again. "We have a lot to talk about after the concert tonight." She was about to say something when she heard him yell for Lance. 

"Hey Georgie what's up?" "Um...I..ahhh..Can you call Allisa?" Lance was confused. "Why? Is everything Ok?" Georgie didn't know how to answer that. "Yes, No, maybe?" Then it dawned on him. Junior. "What is her number? The paper she gave me yesterday is in my coat." Georgie sighed when she realized that he got it. He knew what was up. She gave him her number and said goodbye. 

Tara came up to her. "Well, there ya go. Lance is going to call Allisa right now." Tara nodded her head. "Should we go find them and see what happens or just wait till Allisa talks to us." Georgie thought for a second. I think we should wait until she tells us what's going on." Tara sighed. "Alrighty then, let's finish cleaning up.." 

~~~~ 

Allisa and Dale were walking quietly to where his famous #8 Budweiser car was waiting to be raced. As they get to is she smiles widely. "WOW, it's awesome." Dale looked down at her. "I kinda think so too." Allisa was struck again by how sexy his voice was and how blue his eyes were. 

Allisa didn't know what to say to him now that they were alone. She was ignoring the voice in her head telling that this whole thing was going to lead to trouble. 'I just want to get to know him better.' She had no idea where to begin that process. 

Dale was watching her as she walked around the car and looked at every detail of it. When she got to the passenger side she laughed. "Lookie! Wilson!" That made Dale laugh as well. 

He decided that with her he didn't want frivolous conversation. He knew she was someone you could talk to for hours and never run out of anything to say or be bored. He looked at his watch. He had about a half hour before he had to start getting ready. He smiled and leaned a hip against the side of his car. 

Allisa was still looking at Wilson and laughing profusely. "So, tell me about yourself?" Allisa looked up at him. "What do you want to know? My life hasn't been very exciting, well at least up until this week. This week has proved to be more exciting that the last 20 some odd years of my life." She finished with a   
chuckle. 

Dale smile at her and walked over to one of the folding chairs that was in the garage. "Tell me something that you have never told another person." Allisa looked at him and sat down next to him in another chair. 

Looking in his eyes she felt she could tell him anything. She felt that way about Lance too. Although there was one thing that she didn't tell him. Something she wasn't even supposed to know. 'Maybe just telling him will be helpful to me.' 

"Well, there is one thing..." Her phone rang before she could say anything. "Hello?" "Hey Lissa." She looked at Dale and suddenly felt guilty. "Hey, what's up?" She stood up and walked to the other side of the garage. 

Dale was watching her actions with rapt attention. He was pretty sure that Lance was on the phone, but for some reason Allisa didn't want him to know that. He could only hear her side of the conversation. 

"Yea, that would be great. Can't wait. We will be there early. Talk to you tonight. Bye." She hit end and looked at Dale. 'Damn. Damn. Damn. What am I doing?' "Hey Dale I gotta get in there and help the girls finish cleaning up. Georgie will be pissed if she misses the start of the race." 

Dale sensed she was running. 'Things between her and Lance must be deeper than I thought.' "Sure no problem. I gotta get ready for the race anyhow. Gotta put on the ever sexy red fire suit." Allisa bit back her words. 'Sexy is right.' "Yea well better you than me." Allisa laughed. "Geez, thanks." 

Allisa walked over to the door they had come in and her and Dale reached for the handle at the same time. They looked at each other. Dale had the hardest time not kissing her right then and there. Allisa was fighting off the thoughts of her wanting him to kiss her. 

Dale opened the door and let her out. "See ya after the race?" Allisa looked up at him. "Actually, the girls and I have plans. We will probably be leaving even before the race is over." 

She had no idea why she just didn't tell him where she was going. She was giving herself a head ache. How she got herself into this mess she had no idea. 

Dale looked at her. He saw a pad of paper on one of the tool boxes by the car. He grabbed it and wrote his cell phone number and email address. "Here. You can get a hold of me any of these ways. I'm trusting you to keep theses quiet. Only a few people have these." Allisa looked at him and debated whether to give hers to him. 

'What could it hurt. Like he would ever call me' "Well I was thinking Ebay would be a great place to sell these. Think of all the money I could make." Dale laughed. He was watching her as she wrote down her phone numbers and stuff. He was a little surprised that she was giving them to him. 

She handed him the paper. "Well, you go get ready and good luck today." She turned and walked back towards the door. Just before she walked through it Dale yelled, "tell Lance I said hi." She stopped dead in her tracks and looked him. They looked at each other. Mirroring the same feelings. Attraction. Guilt, and the nagging feeling that things were going to get worse before they got better. 

She smiled at him and left the room. 'Dear God in heaven.' She was in serious trouble.


	24. Chapter 24

"OK Can someone explain to me why poor Tony Stewart got stuck at the end of the line? He was way up there then the stupid officials made him get to the end. That was not fair." 

Georgie and Allisa laugh. Tara had said nothing absolutely nothing about the race until that happened. 

"Dude it's illegal to cut over the grass to get to the pits. He was supposed to use the lane provided." 

Tara scowled. "Well that bites." 

Georgie and Allisa laugh again. Georgie looks at her watch. "We have exactly one hour to get ready. Think we can do it?" All three girls nod as Georgie hits the gas. 

Allisa was eager to get to Lance. She didn't see Dale at all after she left that garage. Which was a blessing. The feelings she were having were not good. Not good at all. She had to see Lance. Lance was real. Dale was..well he was Dale. Nothing. A Crush. She met him. It's done. She picked up her purse she wanted to call Lance when she pulled out the paper that Dale had given her. 

Allisa looked at it again. She folded it back up and threw it in the bottom of her purse. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the seat. 'Everything will be fine as soon I see Lance.' 

~~~~~~~~~ 

When the girls got to their apartments, Ben was waiting for them at the top of the stairs. "Georgie, JC has called. He thought we were going to be there early." 

Georgie laughed. 'So Mr. Chasez is eager to see me.' "We are getting ready to go right now. Ben, you make sure we have all our tickets and stuff ok? And here check these out." She threw the backstage passes at him. 

Ben's eyes widened and he laughed. "Cool. We get to hang back stage" 

Georgie smiled. "Yes, now get up there with your mom and make her hurry. She is the slowest one of us." Ben rolled his eyes. 

"I know aunt Georgie." He ran up to his apartment to be with his mom. 

He walked in and heard the water running. "Hey mom the race was cool. I watched it on TV." 

Allisa laughed. "Yea it was. I will have to take you to one soon. It was sooooooo much fun in person." 

"Did you get to meet Junior?" 

She was silent at that question. She wanted to forget about him. Forget about the afternoon. Forget that..she shook her head. She was going to see Lance in less than an hour. 

"Yea, buddy. He is way cool. I even got to see his car. and Wilson." 

Ben laughed. "Cool. Well you gotta hurry mom. Georgie wants to leave in ten minutes." 

Allisa put her head out of the shower. "Well then stop asking me so many questions so I can get ready." 

Ben stuck his tongue out as his mom and she stuck hers out back. "Ok mom I am going back down to Georgie's place. We will be waiting for you." 

Allisa heard the door to her apartment slam. "Allisa what have you got yourself into?" She asked out loud to no one in particular. 

~~~~~~~~~ 

The concert was a blast. The girls were whisked away by Dre as soon as he saw them coming. He was under strict orders to put them with their families. The girls didn't mind this at all. Georgie had apologized to Britney for saying the things about Justin the day before. She had told Georgie everything was ok. That someone had to tell him about his issues. 

So, now they were sitting in one of the dressing rooms waiting for the guys to get back. Ben had commandeered   
the X-Box that was hooked up to a big TV in the corner. 

Allisa was pacing around because no matter what she did she felt guilty. Guilty because of how she felt about Junior. Guilty about how she felt about Lance. She felt like she was being unfair to both of them, and herself. She just wanted Lance to get there so she would get some perspective. 

Georgie and Tara were amusing themselves with the air hockey table. Tara had just scored a point when she   
felt herself being lifted off of the floor. 

"Hey there's my girl." Chris let her down and she turned to   
look at him. 

"Ok rule one. DO not scare the begeezus out me again." 

Chris pouted. "I'm sorry. I promise I won't do it again." 

Tara smiled and kissed him. "OK then." They walked over to sit on a couch and talk a little bit. 

JC walked in and saw Georgie playing pinball. He walked up behind her and put his chin on her shoulder 

"So how did we do?" 

Georgie turned and looked at him. "Great, as usual." 

She kissed him and took him completely off guard. 

"Look, we have about two weeks off. Then we have to go do the Atlantis thing. I am going to go see my parents and stuff. You wanna come with me?" 

Georgie looked at him. She didn't know what to say. Even though they had met yesterday she felt like they have know each other for years. "Sure. Why not. When do we leave?" 

JC was ecstatic. He thought she might say no. After all they had only met the day before. "Tomorrow at noon.   
The flight leaves at noon." 

Georgie smiled. "Well, then how about you get your stuff together and crash at my house. That way I can pack and we will be in one place?" 

JC looked at her. "Sounds like a plan. Let's get out of here." 

Georgie turned to her friends. "Hey guys JC and I are gonna go to his families house for a couple of weeks. You two think you can handle things for a while?"

Allisa walked up to her. "Yea no problem. Tara and I got it covered." 

From the couch Tara yelled. "Yea no problem. Go. You haven't been on vacation in like a year. You deserve it." 

"Thanks guys.I owe you one." 

JC grabbed her hand and led her out the door. "See ya in two weeks people." Georgie and JC were gone. 

Allisa was still waiting for Lance to show up. She was beginning to wonder why he had called. He acted a little jealous of Junior. She shook her head. 'Enough of the Junior crap already.' She willed herself to get this stupid fascination out of her system before she lost the best thing in her life besides Ben. 'But what if maybe Dale was the best thing? Lance. Dale. Lance. Dale.' She was going to end up giving herself a nervous breakdown before she was 30 over this. 

Just then Lance came in. Freshly showered and smiling brightly. 'Time for some southern charm' he thought to   
himself as he walked over to Allisa. He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. "Good evening, Miss Allisa." 

She looked at him wide eyed. If she wasn't mistaken his accent was a little thicker than usual, but she couldn't see why it would be. It was sexy though that was for sure. 

"Good evening kind sir." She smiled and looked in his eyes. His eyes were completely mesmerizing. He leaned and kissed her. All thoughts of Dale fled her mind. She knew she couldn't be or want to be anywhere else. 

"I missed you today Lissa." 

She blinked. "I missed you, too." 'Not a complete lie', she thought to herself. 

"So Lance what are your plans for the next two weeks?" 

Lance looked at Chris. "Well, Chris and I decided to   
stick around here. Maybe go back to Orlando. Convince a couple of girls we know to come with us." 

Tara's head swung around to look at Lance. Then back at Chris. Chris was grinning from ear to ear. "So you   
guys gonna come hang with us studly men for a couple of weeks." 

Tara started laughing. "Yes sure. As soon as JC and Justin come back in. Everyone knows that they are the studly ones." 

Chris pouted. Tara kissed him on the nose. 

"You're just plain sexy." 

This made Chris blush. 

"Well," Lance spoke up, "you two game or what?" 

Allisa nodded her head. "Actually that's perfect. I promised my parents they could have Ben for a few days over   
Thanksgiving. SInce that is only a few days away he can skip some school." 

"YEHAW!!!" Ben yelled from his spot on the floor. 

"Good. Then we should all get some sleep and head out in the morning. We will pick you guys up about 8AM?" 

Allisa smiled. "Sure and I will have Mitch make us some breakfast." 

Chris and Lance both agreed. Allisa got Ben off the the video game and ushered him out the door. 

Chris gave Tara a kiss with promise of seeing her in the morning. 

Lance gave Allisa a kiss as well. "I will be there bright and early." 

She smiled. "Ok see ya then." 

Georgie had let Allisa and Tara bring her car home. She rode with JC. On the way back to the apartment the girls were pretty quiet. Each silently wondering how their life suddenly changed. Allisa was more pensive than Tara considering what had been going on with her. 

When they get to the bulding, Allisa picks up a sleeping Ben. "God, this kid gets heavier and heavier   
everytime." 

Tara laughed. "Yup. Pretty soon we are going to have to wake him up so he can take himself to bed." They walk quietly into the building. 

"Night Lissa. See ya in the AM." 

"You have a goodnight too. Try and and sleep ok. Will make the night go faster." 

Tara snorted. "Yea right. Sleep." She laughed as she let herself into her apartment. 

Allisa got to her apartment and laid Ben down in his bed. She went into her room and changed into something more comfortable. Since she hadn't been home all day and seeing as she was wired as could be she decided to check her email. 

She sat down at her desk and logged in. She had 34 messages. She was deleting junk mail, when one made her stop in her tracks. "Damn." She said outloud. She had one from racer4life. Also known as Dale Jr. She sat there staring at the screen. Fighting a war within her. 

Here was she was getting ready to spend two weeks with Lance and she wanted to see what Dale had to say. She   
sighed deeply. 'Reading it couldn't hurt anything.' 

She clicked the email open and began to read what he   
wrote to her. 

Lissa,   
Sorry I missed you after the race. I had been hoping to talk to you. Anyways to the point of this email. Next weekend I am having a party. I wanted you to come up for it. I know with Lance and all it might be.....kinda hard to get away. Not that I am trying to get you away from Lance ahhhhh.. nevermind. This is so hard. to be honest I just want to get to know you. I find so few people I can be friends with these days. Just think about it OK. 

Junior 

Allisa couldn't believe what she was reading. Dale wanted her to come to his house. The same weekend she was supposed to take Ben to his grandparents house. The worse part was that she was actually thinking of going to see him. She needed to find out if today had been a fluke or if the feelings she felt were real. As real as the ones she felt for Lance. 

She closed up her email and turned the computer off. She shook her head. Going to see Dale was a big mistake. But it was a mistake she was going to make. She started to think that maybe she should just tell Lance what was going on. 

She shook that thought from her head. No need in making a mountain out of a mole hill. She turned the light off on her desk and crawled into bed. 'Boy this week is going to be interesting.'


	25. Chapter 25

The week passed quickly for Allisa. The closer it got to Friday the more distracted she got. She had the best time with Lance. She even felt she might be in love with him. Key word MIGHT. There was one thing that she couldn't get her mind off. Dale. He had called her twice on her cell after she had emailed him to tell him she would be there. 

She looked over at Ben and smiled. She was taking him to her parents and then driving straight through to Mooresville, NC. About a ten hour drive. She slept a lot the night before and it was only 7 AM. She would be fine. 

She had told Lance that she was going to stay the weekend with her parents since she hadn't seen them in awhile. She cringed as she realized she lied to him. Flat out lied. She even went so far as to tell him to call her cell if when he wanted to talk. 

She shook her head. She hoped to God this thing with Junior was just that. A thing. A crush. An obvious star struck reaction to meeting an idol. 

They got to her mom's house and she helped Ben get his stuff in. They still had the rooms they had when they lived there. Allisa's dad was up watching the early morning news. 

"Hey dad, I'm here with Ben." She walked into the living room and kissed him on the cheek. Ben sat down on the couch and grabbed his GameBoy. 

"Hey slugger, how are you doing?" 

Ben looked up. "Good grandpa, how 'bout you?" 

"Fine to midlen." 

Ben looked at his mom. He didn't understand the old sayings but he went along with them. "That's good." He went back to playing his game. 

"I will pick him up Tuesday morning OK?" 

Her dad smiled at her. "Ok." 

"Tell mom I said hi, I gotta get going." She kissed her dad again and then Ben. 

"You be good kiddo." 

Ben rolled his eyes. "I am always good." She ruffled his hair and left. 

She got into her car again questioning the wisdom of what she was about to do. She turned on the car and left. She had to do this. She had to get some answers. About herself. She just hoped to God that they were the right ones. She put on her Celebrity CD and drove to the highway. 

~~~~~~~ 

Lance was worried. Something had been on Allisa's mind all week. He didn't know what it was. She was fine when they were together but there were times when he would look at her and sense she was mentally somewhere else. He just wished she would open up more to him. Although he thought she shared a great deal of herself with him, there was a part that seemed...distant. 

Lance looked at the clock on the wall in the kitchen of Chris's house. He always stayed there when he was in Orlando. It was 7:30 AM. Maybe he should call her. Let her know he was thinking about her. Almost constantly. He was in love with her. No doubt about it. He just wasn't too sure about her feelings. 

He knew that she cared for him and all but he didn't know if she loved him. He decided he would call a little later. Give her time to get settled with her parents. 

~~~~~~ 

Allisa looked at the clock on her dashboard, 4:30 PM. She had been driving for around nine hours. She looked and saw an exit with a MCDonalds. She was hungry and tired of driving 

So she decided to stop. She got out of the car and got her food, used the facilities. She got out her map and the directions that Junior had givenher. She should be at his place in two and a half hours. 

She rubbed her neck and took a sip of her Coke. Lance had called her about four hours before hand asking how her parents were. She felt sicker and sicker every time she lied to him in the past week. At least with Dale he knew about Lance. 

Which made everything worse. Lance and Junior were friends. He was jeopardizing a friendship to get to know her. Allisa had decided that she was going to be honest with Dale at least. Tell him that she was as confused as be. 

She looked at her watch. Almost 5:00. She threw out her garbage, put the rest of her coke in the drink holder and got in the car. As she was backing out her cell rang. She attached the hands free unit. 

"Hello?" 

"Hey Lissa it's Junior." 

Allisa swallowed. First phone call of the day from him. She was a nervous wreck. "Hey Dale, I am about two hours away." 

"Good. Lissa, I can't wait to see you. I...I know things are complicated right now and all but...." 

Allisa shook her head. "Let's talk when I get there. There is a lot to say." 

She heard Dale sigh. "Your right. Well hurry but be careful. See ya when you get here sweetheart." 

Before she could reply he had hung up the phone. She didn't know if he realized he called her sweetheart or if it was on purpose. She was getting more confused than ever. 'He said sweetheart so sexy.' She was whining in her head. 

She headed back to the highway and was just about to pull off the headset when her phone rang again. 

"Hello?" 

"Hey baby." 

She blinked back tears. Here she was dreaming about another guy and her boyfriend calls and says 'baby' just as sexy as Junior said 'sweetheart'. 

"Where are you? It sounds like your driving somewhere?" 

'O crap' Allisa thought. "Yea, I um..am running some errands for my mom. She needs some stuff from the store." Her heart plummeted at the thought of another lie to the one man who didn't deserve it. 

"Oh, OK. I just wanted to tell you that I miss you already." 

Allisa let the tears fall and hoped that she could mask them. "I miss you too Lance." That was not a lie. She did miss him. 

"Ok well be careful and call me later ok?" 

Allisa sniffed. "Ok. Bye." 

She hit end, pulled off the headset and threw it on the seat next to her. 

"DAMN!!!!" She screamed out loud in her car. 

She was going to get this Dale thing out of her system. She had to. She loved Lance. She knew that. Deep down. Dale was a sexy, charming, dangerous, exciting distraction. 

With a new determination, she pushed the speed up on her car and continued on her way.


	26. Chapter 26

Two hours later Allisa pulls into the driveway of Dale's house. There was a party going on already. She could hear the music. It sounded like a band. She grabbed her backpack out of the back seat and found her way to the front door. 

She had to make her way through a billion cars and trucks. Mostly trucks. Big pick up trucks. She rang the doorbell. No one answered. Then she remembered. "Club E." In the basement of his house. 

She made her way around back and found the rear entrance. She followed the music to where it was. She stopped dead in her tracks. If she hadn't know she was at house she would have thought she was somewhere in the city. Some funky nightclub. 

She looked through the lights and smoke to see where Dale was. 

Dale noticed her before she saw him. His heart stopped. She looked so beautiful. More beautiful than he remembered. They had a lot to talk about. Not that they didn't talk a lot the past week. They learned about each other. 

They skirted around the biggest issue. Them and Lance. He knew that she cared for Lance. He didn't know if she loved him or not. Therein lies the problem for him. He had also talked to Lance in the last week. Lance was head over heels in love with Allisa. 

Hopefully this weekend they could come to some sort of something. 

He walked slowly to her wanting to savor every second that he could. He knew calling her sweetheart earlier on the phone might have been a big mistake, but it came out of his mouth of it's own free will. 

She looked up to see Dale walking towards her. Her pulse quickened. Despite her telling herself that this was just a crush, her heart rate went through the roof. She was whining to herself in her mind again. 'Why me.' 

"Hey Lissa glad you made it ok." Dale smiled at her. 

"Yea, piece of cake. This is some basement." She chuckled nervously. 

Dale could tell she was nervous. "Want a drink?" 

Allisa nodded her head. "Sure that would be great." 

She followed him over to the bar and he handed her a beer. "Thanks." She opened and in her nervousness drank half of it in about 20 seconds. 

Dale laughed. "Well, I guess you were thirsty." 

She snorted. "Not so much thirsty and scared ****less." 

Dale realized that if this weekend was going to be any fun at all they needed to talk. Now. 

"Lissa, I think we should talk. The sooner the better. Let's go upstairs. No one is there." He grabbed her hand and she let him drag her behind him. 

When they got into the living room they sat down on the couch just looking at each other. Dale wanted to kiss her so badly. He wanted to make her forget all about Lance; make her think about nothing but him. He hated himself for feeling that way. Lance trusted him. Lance knew nothing about him and Allisa. 

"Lissa, what's going on here? With us?" Allisa's eyes got wide. She hadn't expected such a blunt beginning to the conversation. 

"I don't know Dale. I really don't. I don't what to say." 

Dale looked her in the eye. "Be honest. With me at least." 

She blinked back tears. "That's not fair. What am I supposed to tell Lance? I don't even know what to tell myself." She stood up and walked to the window and looked out. 

Dale sighed. He didn't mean anything bad by what he said. He walked over and stood behind her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "Look, I came here to find out what if anything is between us. I do not under any circumstances want to hurt Lance." 

Dale turned her around. "You think I want to hurt him? I sure as heck don't want to. He has called me like twice this past week. He loves you. Loves you a lot. This whole situation is seriously unfair. All I'm asking is for us to be honest with each other. Yes, you should be open with Lance too, but I can't worry about that right now. I need to worry about us. And what do you mean 'what, if anything is between' us? I sure know that there is something." 

Allisa was still stuck on the part where Dale had said Lance called him. So she didn't know what Dale was doing until it was too late. He was kissing her. She briefly thought about stopping him but it felt too good. 

Dale couldn't believe how wonderful it was to do this. He had done nothing but dream about it for a week. He hadn't planned on it happening in exactly this manner but it worked. 

When he raised his head and looked at her he smiled. She smiled back then her eyes got wide. 'What the ...I can't believe I did that.' She turned and scowled at him. "I can't believe YOU did that." 

Dale sighed. He too was feeling a little guilty. 

"Well now we know there is something between us." He smiled at her again. 

She sighed. "Well, yea but there has to be more than sexual attraction. We have that in spades obviously. Promise me that the rest of the weekend we won't do that? We need to see if what we are feeling is just that. Attraction or if it is something more." 

Dale looked at her. That was not his idea of how he wanted things to go. But for her sake he agreed. "Ok. I promise. We will just use this time to get to know each other. Without the physical stuff.." 

Allisa sighed in relief. "Thank you. Now, who was the band playing downstairs?" 

Dale stood up and looked down at her. "That is my best friend Terrill's band. I let them use the place to practice and stuff sometimes." 

Allisa started back down to the basement. She was following Dale and looking at the stuff on the wall. She didn't notice him stop until she ran right into him. He had stopped and turned around. 

They were inches apart and he was looking in her eyes. "Lissa, I want you to know that just because we aren't doing anything doesn't mean I don't want to. This whole no physical contact rule is all you. If you ever change your mind, I will be waiting for you." 

He turned and finished walking down the stirs. She was standing there looking down where he went. She shook her head. 'Allisa, just be strong.' She continued down to the party to begin the weekend.


	27. Chapter 27

Despite how desperately Dale wanted to take Allisa in his arms he was willing to abide by her rule. All during the party Allisa was dancing and having fun. He never asked her to dance. He didn't want to torture himself. Holding her like that would have been too much. 

He walked over and sat on the edge of his bed. It was 4 AM and the last person had just left. Allisa had cut out at 2 AM. Saying that she was really tired. So here he was, in his room. Alone. Not really what he had in mind but he was satisfied with knowing that she was in his house. 

He grabbed a towel and went into his bathroom to take a shower. He turned the water on as hot as he could take it. He stepped in and let the water hit his face. He was just as confused and Allisa by all this. He started thinking about her wanting to make sure it was more than physical with them. 

He smiled. She was right. The physical attraction was no problem at all. But what about the rest? That's what this weekend was for. He knew she was right about the no contact thing. He would do everything in his power to make sure everything went perfectly. 

He was pretty sure of two things. One, he wanted Allisa, beyond the physical stuff and two, Lance would be devested once he found out about this. Dale knew he would end up losing one of the best friends he had in a long time. 

~~~~~~~~ 

Allisa still couldn't sleep. She had left the party at around 2 AM and it was still in full force when she did. She wondered if that's how he partied all weekend. If so, then that was not a very healthy thing to be   
doing. 

She rolled over on to her stomach. She started thinking about the kiss. She enjoyed it. But, she couldn't put her finger on it, something was...different. Different from the kisses with Lance. She put her head under the pillow and screamed. Loudly. Thankfully nobody could hear her. 

What was she going to do? She knew that she and Dale were attracted to each other, but that wasn't enough. She was hoping this weekend would provide the answers that were needed. She turned back over and looked at the ceiling. 

She wanted to call Lance. Badly. She missed him. She didn't know if he would be mad or not calling him at this hour. She just felt the sudden need to hear his voice. She grabbed the phone by her bead and dialed his cell. His cell didn't have caller ID, thankfully. 

It rang three times before a sleepy Lance answered. "Hello?" 

Tears came to Allisa's eyes when she realized that her boyfriend was asleep, blissfully unaware that his girl was sleeping at another man's house. Allisa started to cry. 

"Lance, it's me Allisa." She couldn't control the tears any longer. 

"Hey sweetie why are you crying?" Lance had woken completely up at the sound of her crying voice. 

She didn't know what to say. "I miss you Lance. A lot." 

No truer words were ever spoken in her life. She looked around the room she was in. She shook her head. Allisa suddenly realized how stupid she was. Lance loved her. She knew it. She didn't doubt it. 

"I miss you too baby. Tell me what has got you so upset." 

'O if only I could tell him,' she thought to herself. 

"Lance, I have been so stupid. I am so sorry. I know you don't have a clue what I am talking about. Listen I am not at my parents house. I dropped Ben off and went somewhere else." She shook her head as she stood up and grabbed her bag out of the closet while talking to Lance. 

Lance was scared now. "Where are you Allisa?" He didn't want to know, but then again he did. 

"I just went away for the weekend. To think. Things with us happened so fast, I got scared. But I am leaving now. Right now." 

Lance looked at the clock by his bed. "Lissa it's 4 in the freakin' morning. You sure you want to leave right this second?" 

Allisa was never more sure of anything in her life. She had been stupid. She loved Lance. Dale was, well she didn't know what that was. You can be attracted to a lot of people in your life, it doesn't mean you leave your boyfriend and sneak off to see another guy for the weekend. 

"Lance, I am leaving in just a few minutes. I will call again in a couple of hours. I am a kinda far from home." 

Lance didn't know what was going on, but he could tell by the tone of her voice that she was different. Good different and he was glad. 

"Ok. Well you drive carefully and I will be here whenyou get home." Lance paused. "Lissa, I love you." 

Allisa started to cry again. She closed her eyes. He had never said the words to her. Hearing made her realize just how much she would have lost if she had gone through with this weekend. 

"Lance, I love you too. I will see you in a few hours." She heard him hang up and she thought she heard someone else hang up as well. Like someone was on another phone. 

Allisa shrugged and put the phone down. She smiled to herself as she realized that she made the right decision. She went into the bathroom to get the rest of her stuff packed. 

~~~~~ 

Dale couldn't believe what he had just heard. He got out of the shower and was going to call a friend, when he picked up the phone and heard it ringing. Then he heard Lance on the other end and couldn't hang up. 

Allisa was leaving. She was going home to Lance. Dale knew in the deepest part of his heart that it was the right thing for her to do, but, he couldn't just let her leave. There was something more between them. She said she loved Lance but, the way she looked at him made him believe that Allisa also felt something more for him as well. 

Dale grabbed a pair of jeans and threw them on. He wasn't going to let her leave without least saying good-bye. He had one card and he was going to play it. The rules had changed, so must the tactics. "As they say, all is fair in love and war," he said out loud as he left his bedroom. 

Dale ran down to her room and she was already gone. 'She must be at her car already.' He ran out of the   
house without even putting shoes on. He looked and saw her putting her bags into the trunk of her car. 

"Just where in god's green earth do you think your going?" 

Allisa looked up to see Dale, wearing nothing but jeans coming up to her. Again she felt herself being drawn to him despite herself. "Dale, I..um..." 

Dale got up to her and looked her in the eyes, "I know your leaving. I heard you talking to Lance." 

Allisa's eyes got wide. " How dare you listen in to my private conversation." 

Dale sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. But when I hard you start crying I wanted to find out why." 

She shut her trunk and leaned against the car. "Listen, this was a bad idea. I did not have to come all the way up here to get to know you. We are a modern people. Phones, email. Heck, even regular mail when needed. We could have gotten to know each other that way. This, here. Me coming for the weekend only served one purpose. To hurt a man we both love." 

Allisa said the last word with enough emphasis so that Dale would know exactly what she meant. Dale was looking at her. She said she loved Lance. Dale was not going to give her up. Not without a fight. 

He stood in front of her. "You love Lance? Well then I am happy for you. But, just think about this. If you loved him so much, why do you enjoy this ?" He leaned in and kissed her. It took everything in Allisa not to respond to it. 

She pushed him away. "I gotta go." 

Dale smiled to himself. She might have been able to control herself, but how much she had to fight it was in her eyes. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. 

He let her go and she got into her car. He leaned in. "Lissa, this isn't over yet." 

Allisa looked at him, believing what he said, but not saying anything. "Bye, Junior." She put the car in reverse and went out of the drive way. 

As he was watching her car go down the long driveway, he said out loud, 'That's right my dear Lissa. This is so not over yet." He turned and went back into the house.


	28. Chapter 28

ONE MONTH LATER 

Allisa was in her apartment looking at her emails. She found yet another three from Junior. She deleted them. It was bad enough that at night she dreamt of the man, she didn't need to read about how he was doing. In the month that had passed since she had left his house, she totally focused on her relationship with Lance. She loved him more than anything in this world. 

She was happy because Junior and Lance had been able to stay friends. When she got back from Dale's house she talked to Lance. Told him she was scared. Let all of her feelings out. But she never mentioned Dale's name. There had been no need. 

Thankfully, part of Junior's stalking technique was NOT telling Lance about that weekend. Dale had been relentless in his pursuit. He called, he emailed and wrote letters. She read the first few but then threw them out. When he called she kept it to small talk. She wouldn't let the conversation drift to dangerous territory. 

Dangerous territory is exactly Junior was, however. Despite her best efforts, her one weakness was him. She would catch herself thinking about him, nightly she dreamt about him. It was a curse. But it was her fault. If she had not gone to his house...she stopped her thoughts. There was no point in going over it again. 

Allisa knew she just had to work this out. And as soon as Dale got it through his head that she was with Lance, then she would be able to move on. She finished her email and shut the computer down. 

Lance said he had something special planned for Christmas. He wouldn't tell her what though. She was just going to get in the shower when her doorbell rang. "BEN..get that ok?" 

"Ok Mom." She heard Ben open the door. 

"Hey sport. What's up?" 

Allisa wondered why JC was at her place. She walked into the living room. "JC.What are you doing here?" 

JC looked up and smiled at her. "Umm. I have a favor to ask. I kinda need your help. " 

"OK. Let's go into the study." 

JC sat down in a chair and sighed. Allisa sat down in front of him. She waited a few seconds for JC to start but when he didn't say anything, she spoke up. "JC what can I help you with?" 

JC looked at her. He stood up and started pacing the floor. 

Now Allisa knew something was up. JC was very nervous. She began to grin when she realized just what could be making JC such a wreck. 

"JC. I can help. I know exactly what she wants." 

JC looked at her. 

"How do you know what I want help with?" 

Allisa laughed. "There are only two reasons a guy paces. One, he is going to ask a girl to marry him, or two, the girl in question is pregnant. If it is number two you had better leave before I kill you." 

JC started to laugh. Which made him feel better. "Ok You got me. I want to ask Georgie to marry me." He sat back down in front Allisa. "You really know what ring she wants?" 

Allisa nodded. "Yup. Both Tara and I know. I can relate the exact conversation. We were at the jewelers in the mall, and when she saw the ring she got that look..you know the look?" 

JC smiled. He knew that look well. The one where her eyes get big and she starts to giggle. "Yea, I do. The one that she sports when she finds something so great. I love that because it usually involves something so small and unimportant that no one else would find it as great as she does. Then I have to look at it through her eyes and see what makes it great. She has made me see a great deal about this world that I have missed being in this business." 

Allisa just watched as JC talked about Georgie. She could tell that he really loved her. "Yea, she has a way of doing that. Anyway, she pointed to the ring and turned to us and said, 'If JC asks you what ring I want, it's this one.' So we got a good look at it, and Georgie even made us write the number down so we could give it to you, 'if the need ever arose'." 

JC was laughing. "So she was pretty sure that I was going to ask her huh?" 

Allisa nodded her head. "Yea. So, I have the card with all the info on it if you want it?" 

JC smiled. "Well, that's why I am here." 

Allisa stood up and grabbed her purse. She handed him the card. She smiled as she remembered what Georgie had written on it. 

JC smiled as he looked at the back. 'If your reading this JC, I say yes. I love you, more than anything.' 

He looked up at Allisa. "She WAS pretty sure of herself wasn't she." 

Allisa nodded. "I think she had every reason to be." 

JC nodded. "She did. I knew what I wanted from the second I saw her. Well, thanks again and I will talk to you soon." 

She shut the door behind him and smiled. It took all her will power not to call Tara. "Ok now I am taking my shower Ben. If anyone calls tell them I will call back." 

"K, mom." 

~~~~~ 

"Chris, did you get ahold of everyone on your part of the list?" 

Chris nodded. "Yup. Everyone said they were coming." 

Lance was planning a party. He didn't tell Allisa about it because he wanted it to be a surprise for her. They had been together for over a month but she really hadn't met most of his family and friends yet. This was his way of introducing her to them. 

"OK. I've got one more person to call." He looked at the number he was about to dial. It was Juniors number. He felt bad because he never had him come down at all. After he had introduced him and Allisa he went through a stage of severe jealousy. He knew he had no reason to be. 

Allisa had never mentioned Junior or anything. So he decided to call him up and invite him to the party. Besides, he knew that Allisa was a fan of his racing so it would be fun for her to actually get to know him. That and Junior was one of his favorite friends. The deserved to know each other. 

Lance dialed the number. After a couple of rings someone answered. 

"Hello?" 

Lance smiled. "Hey Junior, it's Lance." 

"Hey Lance, what's up?" 

Lance and Dale start talking about small things then Lance got to the point of the phone call. 

"Listen, I am having a party for the holidays. I want my friends and the family that haven't had a chance to really   
meet Allisa to meet her. I want you to come." 

Dale was silent for a second. "Sure. I would love too." 

"Cool" Lance gave him the details and then hung up the phone. 

"I guess, Chris, that's everyone. Now we need a caterer." 

Chris and Lance start pursuing the names that some friends had given them. 

~~~~ 

Dale hung up the phone and smiled to himself. 'This should be fun', he thought. A party. In Allisa's honor, and he was going to be there. He was trying his hardest with her. Trying the whole letter/email/phone approach but she was stubborn. He smiled to himself again. There was only one way to make her want him. To make her love him. She had to see him. In the flesh. He knew from their last encounter a month ago, that she had almost no will power when it came to him. 

He looked at the calendar. The party was going to be on Saturday, the 15th of December. One week. He would   
be ready.


	29. Chapter 29

It was an hour before the party started and JC was trying to talk to the guys. He hadn't told them about asking Georgie to marry him. He wanted them to know   
first. 

"HEY GUYS!!!" All four of them turn around. "I need to talk to you. Sit." 

He pointed to the couch. The one he was most worried about was Justin. Although he had gotten a bit better, he still was a little snide towards Georgie. They had not started out on the right foot. 

"Ok. Now listen and don't say anything till I am done." 

The four guys nod their head in agreement. "You all know that I love Georgie." He breathed in deeply suddenly nervous about what the guys would think. "I want to ask her to marry me. Tonight. If that's ok with you, Lance?" 

He looked at his four best friends wondering what they were thinking. Lance smiled. "Hey, no problem." 

Lance stood up and gave him a hug. Then Joey and Chris followed with their own congrats. Justin was still sitting on the couch. 

He and Georgie did not hit it off when they first met, but that was his fault. After the whole Britney kissing Joey incident, he took time to look at himself. He really was as bad as Georgie said he was. He had asked Britney one time why none of them had said anything. She said that they didn't want to hurt him. 

The few times that he had talked to Georgie since then proved to be enlightening. She was cool girl. She was a   
little leery of him as well, but for JC's sake they both try to get along. He knew JC was in love. He also knew that Georgie loved him. 

That's all he needed to know. Georgie and JC loved each other. So he was happy for them. He was also sure that given time he and Georgie would be friends. 

Justin stood up and went over to JC. "Well, have you decided on a best man yet? Because ya know that is the most important part of the wedding party." 

JC smiled and gave Justin a hug. "Thanks man." 

~~~~~~~ 

Allisa, Georgie and Tara were getting ready in Tara's apartment. Allisa was a nervous wreck. She had no idea what was going on. All Lance had told her was to dress   
up and come prepared to have a great time. And he wanted Ben there, too. 

"Calm down Lissa. We get together with the guys all the time. This should be no different." 

Allisa rolled her eyes. "Yea except we are dressed up. Which means it's special." Tara laughed. 

"Special. So special.." 

Allisa and Tara looked at Georgie. 

"What?" 

Tara smiled. "Can you think of a song for every occasion?" 

Georgie nodded her head. "Probably. Besides I heard that yesterday on Back Tracks USA and have been singing it all day long." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's one of my favorite Pretender's songs." 

Allisa shook her head and laughed. "Georgie, you are so stuck in the 80's girl." 

Georgie pouted. "Well, the 80's rocked. I can't help that." 

"Ok you two, stop now before you get into one of your hour long fights over whether the 80's held any merit or not." 

Allisa and Georgie laughed. "OK." They turn to the mirror and finish their hair. 

Ben knocked on the door and Tara told him to come in. "Aren't you guys ready yet?" He rolled his eyes and sat down on the bed. 

"We are almost done. Ben so hush up." 

Ben stuck his tongue out at Georgie and she saw it in the mirror and stuck hers out at him. Then they smiled at each other. 

After about ten more minutes, the girls and Ben were on there way over to Chris's house. When they arrived they saw ton of cars. 

Georgie laughed. "Dear God, I think it's a party." 

The three of them had not been to one of the guys parties yet. They looked at each other. 

"People will be in there. Popular people. Stars." 

"Easy Tara. They are just people too. We get along fine with the guys and all so this should be a piece of cake." Georgie tried to believe what she just told Tara. 

She was nervous. This was what she was afraid of. Not fitting in with JC's friends. Like she said before, they ran in different circles. 

"Well, girls we knew we had to face this sooner or later. So I guess we had better get in there and make our presence known." 

The three girls look at each other and sighed. 

"I guess your right. Let's do it." 

Tara, Georgie and Allisa get out of the car and walk nervously up to the doors.


	30. Chapter 30

As soon as the girls got in the door Ben was gone. He knew where he wanted to be; where Chris's XBOX was. Georgie, Allisa and Tara looked around. There seemed to be a lot of people that they didn't know there. They scanned the room for their men. 

Lance was the first one to show himself. He walked over and placed a kiss on Allisa's cheek. "Hey sweetie. Care to meet some of my friends?" 

Allisa looked at him wide eyed. "WHAT?!?!" 

Lance smiled at her statement and how white her face had got. "Yea. This party is for you to meet all the people in my life that are important. That and to have some fun." 

Lance looked at the other two girls and smiled. 

"JC and Chris are in the kitchen looking for some beer or something." 

Georgie rolled her eyes. "Of course. What would a party be if you didn't have alcohol in mass amounts?" She laughed as she and Tara made their way to the kitchen. 

Lance looked down at Allisa again. She looked completely frightened. 

"I think I need a beer or something too." She laughed lightly. 

"Lisaa, don't worry. My friends will love you." She looked at him. 

"And how do you know that?" 

He bent down and kissed her lips softly. "Because I love you." He smiled and looked in her eyes. She had been a different person since she had come back from wherever she had been a month ago. 

He felt foolish for thinking anything about her and Junior. Lance was hoping that Junior would show up soon. Allisa would be so surprised. Allisa was looking at Lance. She loved him. With all her heart. She kicked herself every time she thought about how close she came to losing him. 

"What's that look for, Lance?" 

Lance shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing really. I have a surprise for you later." He kissed her on the forehead. "Well, girl, let's go meet some people." 

Allisa breathed in heavily. "Sure why not. Get it over with." 

Lance smiled and grabbed her hand a lead her into one of the other rooms. 

~~~~~ 

"Tara, can you believe how many people are here. Dang." Tara was trying to make her way through the crowd. "I feel a little out of place." 

Tara felt arms around her waist and then a familiar voice in her ear. "You are never out of place. You are just   
perfect the way you are. " 

She turned in Chris's arms and smiled at him. He always knew what to say to make her relax. "Well, that's because I am with you." 

Chris kissed her quickly. "Let's dance." He grabbed Tara's hand and took her to the dance floor. 

Georgie stood there laughing. Tara hated to dance. She only danced to a couple of songs and that was only because she and Allisa made her. 

JC was watching Georgie laugh. He couldn't get over how much he loved her. He truly thought that after Bobbie, he would never find happiness again. Who would have thought it would be with a waitress? He smiled and walked over to where she was standing. 

"Hey beautiful." 

Georgie smiled. She would never get used to JC calling her that. It was so unreal that sometimes she thought it was a dream. She turned and looked at him. The sight of him never failed to take her breath away. 

"Well, hello to you too handsome." She leaned in and kissed him. 

JC pulled back. 'Yup. Tonight is the night,' he thought to himself. 

Georgie wondered at the look that he had in his eyes. "What, JC?" 

JC smiled. She could read him like no one else. 

"Let's take a walk outside." JC grabbed her hand and lead her out the back door in the kitchen. 

~~~~~~~ 

Chris and Lance watched as JC took Georgie outside. Justin and Britney walked up to them. "Well, looks like C is gonna do it sooner than later." 

Tara and Allisa looked at Justin funny. Then Allisa realized what they were talking about. 

She turned to Lance. 

"You mean he is doing it tonight?" 

Lance and Chris smiled. "Yup. He told us about it just before the party." 

Justin looked down at Britney. She was grinning from ear to ear. Her and Georgie had become really close over the past month. She was so happy for them. 

Tara looked at the small group around her. "OK. Why do I feel like I am on page four when you are all on page ten. Can someone explain what is going on?" 

Chris smiled. "Well, my sweet. Our dear JC is going to ask your friend Miss Georgie to marry him." 

"SHUT UP!! No feakin' way. And this is the first I have heard about it?" She scowled at Allisa. "Lissa you knew about this?" 

Allisa looked at the floor. "Yea. I kinda did. JC made me swear not to tell anyone. Not even you. I'm sorry." 

Tara shrugged. "I'm not really upset. Just wanted to pout for a second or two. So how long is his proposal going to last and are we going to just stand here and wait until they come back in?" 

Joey walked over by this time and heard the question. "Well, this is C we are talking about. Mr. Melodramatic himself. I think we will be waiting here for a little bit longer at least." 

They all laughed. "Well, then I say we just dance here and keep an eye on the door for when they come back in." Tara nodded her head even though she didn't want to dance she did want to be there when JC and Georgie returned. 

~~~~~~~~ 

JC lead Georgie out into the backyard. He suddenly felt very nervous. Scared to death would be more of an appropriate description. They walked down to the pond that was all lit up. 

"Wow, it is really beautiful down here." JC looked around. He always liked this spot too. That's why he picked it to ask her. 

Georgie decided to sit down on the deck. She took off her sandals and put her feet in the water. JC followed suit. Taking off his shoes and socks and rolling up his pant legs. They sat that way for fifteen minutes just enjoying each other's company. 

"Georgie, I love you." JC just said it out loud in the silence making her look at him. She wanted to cry. He said he loved her before but this time it was different. 

"I love you too." 

JC smiled at her and leaned in to kiss her. When they pulled apart there were tears in his eyes. 

Georgie got slightly scared over his actions. "JC, sweetie is something wrong?" She put her hand on his cheek. 

He took her hand and held it. "Only if you count not waking up next to the one you love every morning. Or maybe not being with that person every second of every day." 

Georgie remained silent. For once,she had no idea what to say. It was a strange feeling for her, as she always had something to say. JC reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. He laid it in Georgie's hand. 

She looked at him and then down at the card. She was confused until she realized what card it was. it was the one she had given Tara and Allisa with the information about the ring she wanted. 

"JC?", she whispered. 

He smiled as he realized that he rendered her speechless. He then pulled out the little box with the ring in it. He handed it to her. She was still in a state of shock. He was continuing to smile at her. 

"I figured since you already answered the question, I wouldn't need to ask it again." He then furrowed his eyebrows. "Or would that be ask at all?" 

Georgie looked up and smiled. She was close to tears now. 

She always talked a good game, like she was as confident as could be with JC. But deep inside she was scared to death. He was perfect. He was her dream come true...almost in the literal sense if you count manic obsessive story writing, picture buying and idolizing. 

"OK well, JC...I...WOW!" She had no idea what to say. She looked up at him. Looked him directly in the eye. "Are you absolutely sure about this. About me?" 

JC took her hands in his. He knew what she was like. She was a tough girl. Always there for everyone. Never worried about herself. But deep inside she was scared to death of not being loved. In the last few months, when she didn't know he was looking he could see that she was always waiting. Waiting for him to wake up and realize he was dead wrong about her. 

"Miss Georgie," JC started with a southern drawl that was SO not southern Lance would have been embarrassed, "I promise to love you forever, if you promise to be with me forever?" 

She smiled at him. "JC I would love to be with you forever." 

He took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. She smiled brightly and a calm came over her. He noticed right away how her eyes changed. She was truly happy and, more importantly, she was assured of his love for her. That part made him almost as happy as her saying yes. 

To make her know that he truly loved her was his goal. He achieved that goal and was ecstatic. "Well, then sweetie, I think we need to go in and let everyone know what is going on." 

Georgie stood up and grabbed JC's hand. "Lead the way kind sir." 

The walk back to the house hand in hand smiling and lost in their own thoughts.


	31. Chapter 31

When Georgie and JC walk in the house the group that was camped out came running up to them. Everyone was talking at once. When they heard a shrill whistle and everyone turned to look at Justin. There was dead silence as he walked up to JC and Georgie. Britney was praying that he would not say anything stupid. Allisa and Tara were ready to smack him down if he didanything--ANYTHING--to ruin this for Georgie. 

Justin stopped in front of JC and Georgie. "C. Congrats man." He held out his hand and JC took it and shook it. Then Justin turned his attention to Georgie. She noticed the twinkle in his eye. So, she new he was up to something. She squinted at him. 

"Miss Georgie, my favorite waitress." He smiled at her pulled his other hand from behind his back. He presented her with a bouquet of flowers. "Congrats and I am sorry about everything. I was an ass.." 

There was a resounding chorus of 'tell us about its' as he   
scowled at everyone around him. 

"AS I was saying I was an ass and you had every right to call me on it. I say we start over and be friends this time." 

Georgie smiled. Now she remembered why Justin was her favorite at the beginning. "Deal." She took the flowers and then hugged him. "Just remember Timberlake, your ego gets out of hand again I will step in." 

Justin smiled. "Deal." 

"Alright people I want to dance." 

Georgie grabbed JC and headed to the dance floor. Chris and Tara went to get some drinks and Lance and Allisa stayed back to chat with Justin and Britney.

Lance looked at his watch. 'Where the heck is Junior?,' he thought to himself. He looked down at Allisa who was engaged in bridal shower preparation talks with Britney. Lance figured Junior would show up soon. The party had only been going on for a couple of hours. 

~~~~~~~ 

Dale looked at the clock on his car dashboard. He had been sitting in the driveway of Chris's house for forty-five minutes. He was ready to come to this party and make his presence known. Especially to Allisa. Now, after sitting there for so long, he was not so sure. 

He kept debating the merits of making her tell Lance about them. Not that there was a lot to tell, but what they did keep a secret would be enough. Lance was a big one for honesty. There in was the dilemma. Lancewas his friend. He was sure that given time even he and Allisa could be friends. 

The problem was, he didn't want to be friends with her. He wanted more. 'Maybe seeing them together and happy would cure me.' He snorted. "Yea right." He said out loud. He figured seeing them together and happy would just piss him off more. 

That is what he had been going through for the past month. His emotions had been alternating between extreme anger to never wanting to do anything to hurt Allisa. He wasn't too sure if this whole love thing was a fun as everyone thinks. 

He laid his head back against the seat again trying to work up the courage to go into the party and inevitably upset the life of girl he loves. 

He looked at the clock again. He had been sitting therefor an hour. He started talking to himself. 

"What the heck? I can drive cars over 200 miles per hour around sharp curves but I don't have the balls to get out of this car and go into a party." 

He looked around the car. "And I am talking to myself." 

This made him angry at himself. Angry at Allisa. Angry   
at Lance. Angry at the whole situation. He put his keys in the pocket of his jacket and made his way to the party. 

~~~~~~~~ 

Lance was worried now. Dale was two hours late. He and Allisa were standing talking to JC and Georgie who were still on cloud nine. Tara and Chris went to get drinks to toast. Allisa was watching some people leave. She didn't think she'd had a chance to meet them. She was looking around when she looked back at the door and saw Junior come in. 

Allisa's eyes got wide and everything around seemed to fade into nothing. Nothing but Junior standing in the doorway. Sexy as ever and looking determined. She vaguely realized that Georgie had asked her a question. She stared at her. 

"What, I'm sorry. What did you ask?" 

" I asked if you thought black would be cool brides maid dresses?" 

Before she could answer she heard his voice. He was standing right behind her. "Hey Lance sorry I'm late." 

 

Lance smiled and grabbed Allisa's hand. There was nothing she could do but turn around. 'Drat. Double drat.' she thought. She finished her drink in one quick swallow and then grabbed Georgie's and finished off hers too. 

Allisa was hoping she would not have to say anything. At all. Lance was chatting away with Junior and Allisa was blocking it out when she noticed Tara and Georgie looking at her funny. 

They had been there that Saturday they catered for Junior and his crew. Now they knew something must have happened. Allisa just looked away. She never even told them about going to his house for the weekend. 

Nobody knew, but her, Junior and the lamp post. 

Allisa was trying her best to ignore the conversation when she heard Lance apologizing. Then she tuned in. 

"Junior I am so sorry about not keeping in touch better." 

He looked down at the floor. Allisa wondered what was up and so she made the huge mistake of looking directly at Junior. 

BIG MISTAKE. Her heart rate went up and she could not remover her eyes from his. 

Lance started to speak again. "I was jealous. When I introduced you two that day I noticed....well never mind that. I know it was in my head and I feel like jerk for letting it affect our friendship, Junior." 

Allisa was sure she heard wrong. Lance was worried about her and Junior? 'Nail. Coffin. Shut.' She was doomed. Junior was doomed. Lance was doomed. 

Junior smiled. Thinking along the same lines as Allisa. 

"Well, I forgive you. So I guess you wouldn't mind if I danced with your lovely lady here?" 

Allisa turned back to Lance and Dale. She scowled at Junior. 'NO NO NO. LANCE SAY NO.' Her ESP failed because Lance gave his permission and told them to have fun. 

"Thank you Poo Foo." 

Lance laughed. "Yea yea Junior just behave yourself" 

Junior turned towards Allisa and reached out his hand. 

"Shall we?" 

Allisa wanted to say no. She wanted to scream no and tell him to get the hell out of there. But for Lance's sake she dancedwith him. 

As they made it to the dance floor, her heart beat faster. 'OK yea, like I thought before. NAIL. COFFIN. SHUT. HARD.' 

Dale too was having a hard time. He had her in his arms. In the one place he had been dreaming about for over a month. He knew deep down all he would have to do is say a few words in her ear and she was all his. Heck, he knew that the second she saw him standing in the doorway. 

The problem was it was the same way with him. He would do anything and everything she asked of him. He loved her. Deep down he believed that she loved him too.

\---


	32. Chapter 32

Alissa was doing everything in her power NOT to look up at Dale. But is was hard. Very hard. 'Dang him and his Drakkor Noir.' She was visibly scowling and really at this point didn't care if Dale noticed or not. 

She looked around for Lance who was no where to be found. He had no clue what kind of predicament he put her in. But then again if he knew what was up she wouldn't be here because she would not be with Lance. So, she quietly continued to dance with Dale. Continued to drink in his smell and continued to curse who or whatever put her in this position. 

Dale was smiling because he knew exactly what she was thinking. One part of her was enjoying this as much as he was and the other was cursing him and whoever else she could think of to the ground. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. 

"Hey you better quit scowling or your friends are gonna wonder why." 

She lifted her head to see Georgie and Tara looking in her and Dale's direction. 

She looked up at him. "Why are you here?" 

He shrugged. "Because my friend Lance invited me. He thought we should become friends." 

She so wanted to laugh. "Junior there is no way we can be friends." 

They just looked at each other. This had to be talked about. NOW. 

"Dale, we need to talk. Set some rules or something because this has the potential for blowing up and causing a lot of pain. To everyone." 

She looked around to make sure no one she cared about could see her and Junior go out the front door. She grabbed his hand. "Follow me." 

Dale was more than happy to follow her. When they reached the sidewalk she let go of his hand but he grabbed right back up. She tried to pull it out. 

"What are you trying to do?" 

He shrugged. "Trying to hold your hand I suspect." He smiled down at her. 

Allisa had to get a hold of herself. Here she was at a party her BOYFRIEND was throwing and she was seriously considering walking around the yard holding on to that   
boyfriends friends hand. 'What have I become?' she thought to herself. She had to put him straight. 

"Listen, Junior I know I might have sent mixed signals and all but...." 

He interrupted her. "I don't think they were mixed. I think they were completely straight. YOU," he pointed a finger at her, then slowly traced it down her cheek, "were the one that made them mixed. If you had followed your heart and not your conscience, Lance would have been upset and a little hurt, but now he will be devested." 

Allisa was beside herself. "What do you mean WILL BE? I don't plan on devastating him. Not at all." 

Dale laughed a little and walked ahead of her. She was   
pissed. She hurried to catch up with him. They turned towards the ponds. There were a few people out and about but nobody that would think anything. 

"Why are you laughing? Do you think this is funny?" 

He stopped and looked her in the eyes. "No, I don't. Not at all. It's very serious. But you made it ten times more serious by leaving and not giving me a chance. How do you know that Lance is THE ONE for you? You never gave me the opportunity to prove myself to you. To prove how much..." He stopped in mid-sentence and ran his hand through his hair. 

He turned to look at the pond. 'What is the point?' he thought to himself. He and Lance were friends. Lance wanted him and Allisa to be friends. He had to ask her one question. The answer he got would make his decision for him. 

He turned back around and stopped dead in front of Allisa. He looked in her eyes. 

"Do you love Lance? Can you honestly look inside yourself and tell me you have absolutely no feelings for me whatsoever? Can you tell me straight out that given the opportunity you could never love me?" 

He waited. Allisa had no idea what to say. She did love Lance. With everything she had. But Junior? Could she love him as much? She looked at him. 

"Dale, I..." She walked over and sat on a bench that was beneath some trees. Dale followed her and sat down next to her. 

"How do I explain this?" She looked down at her hands. Dale was just going to let her take her time. "I love Lance. I love him whole-heatedly. He is...everything I have ever wanted." 

Dale smiled. "But you wanted me too?" 

Allisa looked up at him wide eyed. 

"OK So I am..was attracted to you. That doesn't mean I was in love with you. It was purely selfish on my part to come to your house that weekend. I knew what would happen if I came there." 

She stood up and walked a few feet away from him. She turned and looked at him. "To be perfectly honest with you, you are like a dangerous drug.. A drug I know I can't have, but one that I want. One that if I take it, it will ruin everything. It will destroy someone we both love along with ourselves in the process." 

She turned her back to him again. This time he stood up and walked up behind her. She knew he was there. So she didn't even bother turning around. 

"So in answer to your questions. Yes, I love Lance. NO, I can't tell you I don't have feelings for you because I do and the feelings I do have for you make me answer your last   
question.. No. I don't think I could love you. At least not the way I love Lance." 

Dale didn't say anything. He couldn't. He was stunned. There was nothing he could do, aside from kissing her senseless, to make her love him. He loved her. Loved her enough to let her be happy with Lance. 

"Well, then I think we need to start over. Try to be friends for Lance." 

Allisa turned around. 'God he is so beautiful.' She shook her head to rid her of those thoughts. 

"Your right. From here on in we are friends." 

She held out her hand for him shake it. He took it reluctantly. 

"Deal." 

Allisa breathed a sigh of relief. "OK. We should get inside before people wonder where we went off too." 

Dale nodded his agreement and they walked slowly through the backdoor. 

"Hey there you guys are. We have been looking all over." 

Dale looked at Allisa. "Well, since we couldn't find you I wanted to see the ponds so Lissa here showed them to me." 

Lance smiled as he walked into the living room. "Those ponds are cool." 

Allisa and Dale stopped in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. They noticed people looking at them and pointing. 

Chris came running up. "Hey you two, look where you're standing? Under the mistletoe. Guess what you've got do now. K-I-S-S" 

Chris and the rest of the guys started laughing. Dale and Allisa looked up and then back down at each other. Allisa's back was to everyone so when tears came to her eyes they couldn't see. Then everyone started chanting. 'Kiss her, Kiss her.'


	33. Chapter 33

Dale didn't know what to do. If they didn't kiss, everyone would wonder why. If they did, he wasn't to sure if either of them could pull off an amazing feat of nonchalance. He looked in her in the eyes and tired to reassure her that this was normal. 

He put his hands on her cheeks and thumbs under her eyes, as he kissed her he wiped away the tears that were falling. As he lifted his head back up, no one was the wiser and he winked at her. She smiled and mouthed thank you. 

Allisa turned and went to where Lance was sitting on the couch. Junior turned into the kitchen looking for the stiffest drink he could find. There was no way that he was going to be able to pull off a friendship with Allisa. He cared to much. All he could find in the fridge was some Smirnoff Ice. 

He opened it and leaned on the counter. He looked out to the living room to see Allisa holding on to Lance. He shook his head. He knew as soon as he kissed her he was a goner. He had kissed her that time at his house and hadn't had a peaceful night's sleep since. 

"DAMN!" People in the kitchen looked at him. "I ah..hurt my hand trying to open this. Stupid twist tops." He showed the bottle of Smirnoff to those looking at him. They all nodded their understanding and left him alone in the kitchen. 

He looked back out at them sitting on the couch. He sighed. As much as he wanted to be the one with her on that couch, he resigned himself to the fact that she loved Lance. He was still sure that if he pushed she would crumble. But he didn't want her to crumble. He loved that she was so strong. 

He finished the bottle and grabbed another one out of the fridge. He decided he needed to get drunk. And fast. 

~~~~~ 

Allisa looked into the kitchen to see Dale take another bottle out of the fridge. She was holding on to Lance for dear life. She couldn't believe that she had to kiss Junior again. And at the insistence of her friends. She wanted to cry again remembering the understanding in his eyes and the way he took care of her tears. 

She knew they needed to be friends for Lance's sake. But she didn't know if she could pull it off. She wanted him too much. She laid her head down in Lance's lap. She closed her eyes and willed her thoughts away from Junior and his kiss. 

~~~~~~ 

Georgie and Tara were in the bathroom. They had taken in everything that happened from the second Dale had walked into the house to Allisa sitting with Lance on the couch. 

"Soooooo..what do you think is up with Lissa and Junior?" 

Georgie looked at Tara in the mirror as she put her hair up in a ponytail. She was done with looking good for the night. She wanted comfortable. 

"I think it's a case of her being kissed by her crush. You know as well as I do that she has a small crush on him. She probably enjoyed kissing him a little and it made her feel guilty. That's all. We shouldn't worry. Besides, if something were to or did happen we would be the first to know." 

Tara nodded. "I suppose your right. I am going to change my clothes." 

Georgie smiled. "Amen sister friend. I am right behind you." 

They picked up their back packs and changed into jeans and t-shirts. Not caring that everyone else was still in their party best. 

~~~~~~~ 

Lance looked down at Allisa and noticed that she was asleep. So he picked up and carried her into his bedroom. He laid her down and covered her up with a blanket. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. 

He started to walk out of the door when he heard herwhisper "I love you." He smiled and whispered that he loved her too, not knowing that she was dreaming. Of his friend Dale.


	34. Chapter 34

Dale looked as his watch. It was about 2 AM and he and the rest of the guys--Joey, JC, Chris, Justin and Lance--were watching a movie. Tara and Georgie had gone home and he found out that Allisa was staying in the house. 

"Well guys, I am whooped. I drove 10 hours to get here and I am exhausted. So I am off to bed. Chris, what room am I sleeping in?" 

Chris paused the movie. "I will show you." 

He leaped over the couch and headed up the stairs. Dale had to laugh how even at two in the morning Chris had more energy than anyone he knew. Chris pointed out Lance's room, where Dale knew Allisa was sleeping. 

"Here is the bathroom and this room.." Chris opened a door, "is the room you can have." Chris turned to Dale. "I think Lance might camp out on the couch. He doesn't want to disturb Lissa." 

Chris turned to go down the stairs. "Nite Junior." 

Dale smiled. "Nite Chris." 

Dale went into the room he was staying and looked out the window. He had cool view of the ponds and the back yard. 'Chris does have a great place,' he thought to himself. He left the window open a crack to let the scent of jasmine enter his room. 

He grabbed a pair of jeans out of his bag and headed to the shower. He needed a hot shower. Needed to relax. He turned the water on as hot as he could take it. Twenty minutes later he stepped out of the shower and into his jeans. As he stepped out of the bathroom he heard a sharp gasp. 

He looked up to see Allisa standing near the bathroom. She looked at him wide eyed. He was wearing nothing but a pair of jeans hung low on his hips. His body was still slightly wet from his shower. Allisa involuntarily took a step forward, raising a hand to his warm, damp skin. 

Dale saw the movement and whispered her name. "Lissa" as he too took a step forward. 

Then they heard laughter coming up the stairs and Chris and JC came up. "Hey guys, what's going on?" 

Dale and Allisa looked at each other. She backed away and headed down the stairs. Dale sighed. 

"I just got out of the shower. I have no idea what Lissa was doing up." He turned and went into his room and slammed on the bed. 

This was going to be harder than he thought. He now knew she was way more affected by him than she was letting on. So, he was back to his moral dilemma. Make her confront her feelings for him and hurt Lance. Or be the martyr and let them be happy. IF Allisa could be truly happy keeping all this from Lance. 

~~~~~~~~ 

Allisa hightailed it down those stairs as fast as she could. 'This is not good.' She knew she would have been in his arms in a heartbeat if Chris and JC had not come up those stairs. She needed to get out of the house. She needed to get home. 

Lance was sitting on the couch drinking a beer and watching some old movie on the AMC channel. He looked up as he saw Allisa coming down the stairs. "Hey sweetie. Why are you up?" 

She sat down next to him. "Who could sleep with Chris and JC making more noise than the other party guests did the whole night?" 

Lance laughed. "Yea JC celebrated a little to much tonight after Georgie left." 

Allisa looked at the time. It was almost 3 AM."Hon, I know it's late but I was wondering if you could take me home? I gotta get up early in the morning and drive Ben to my parents house. He is staying there for a few days." 

JC was just coming back down the stairs when he heard Allisa. "Hey, I am in no position to drive. Why don't you drive me and my car home. I will camp at my girl's   
house and you will be home." 

Allisa looked at Lance. Lance shrugged. "If your sure. I mean you CAN stay here." 

Allisa hugged him. "I know sweetie, but I really do need to be home. To help Ben pack and stuff." 'And to keep away from Mr. Temptation upstairs' she added silently to herself. 

JC handed her the keys to his Cherokee and got in the passenger side. Lance walked Allisa out and stood by the car. "Be careful. Call me in the morning." 

Allisa smiled. "No problem." They stood there looking at each other. She wanted to cry at how horrible she was being. 

She reached up and touched his face. "I love you. You know that right?" 

Lance looked at her funny. "Of course I do. I love you too." He leaned and kissed nher. She kissed him back with a little more passion than usual, but Lance didn't mind. 

When she looked at him she smiled. "Lance, let's go away for a few days. Ben will be gone. It will be just you and me." 

Lance looked her in the eyes. She seemed a little desperate. He wondered if something was wrong. She got a little strange during the party. He shook of his thoughts. 'She's just tired.' 

He smiled at her. "Sure we can go somewhere. Just call me tomorrow and we can make plans." He leaned and kissed her one more time before she got into the car. 

"Good. Talk to you tomorrow." 

Lance watched as she pulled out the driveway and again wondered at her strange behavior. 'Maybe this is what we need.' He smiled and went back into the house. 

~~~~~~~ 

Upstairs, Dale heard everything from an open window at the top of the stairs. He knew she was running. He was almost ready to spill everything to Lance. But that would serve no purpose. Lance would hate him. Allisa would hate him. Nothing good would come out of it. He walked back into his room and laid on the bed. 

All he could do was let her do what she was going to. Even if it mean she wouldn't be with him.


	35. Chapter 35

The next morning Lance and Dale woke up at the same time. Lance was kinda excited to have the morning to catch up with him. 

While they were eating, they talked small talk. About Junior's racing. Lance's movie, On The Line, which Lance was surprised to find out Junior went to see. 

"Yea well, I went in disguise and don't admit it freely." 

Lance smacked him. 

"Hey I am a 27-year-old guy. One who races cars. My rep would be shot if people found out I went to a chick flick." 

Lance's mouth dropped open. "A CHICK FLICK?" 

Dale laughed. "Poo Foo..did you go to a movie theater? There was nothing but chicks watching it." 

Lance snorted and stood up to get a cup of coffee. "Well you   
were there Junior." 

"Yea because it was my friend's movie." 

Lance and Dale look at each other and start to laugh. "It's good to see ya man." 

Dale nodded. "It's good to see you too." 

"Sooooo Junior..is there a special girl in your life or all of them special to you?" 

Dale laughed. He had no idea how to answer that question except with the obvious answer. "Yup. All of them are special. In there own ways" 

Lance laughed and went into the living room. Chris came downstairs and grabbed a cup of coffee as Dale was refilling his. They too walked into the living room and sat down to watch the news. 

~~~~~~ 

Allisa could not get any sleep. She tossed and turned all night. She was glad Lance agreed to go away for a few days. They needed some time together. Away from other people. She needed to forget all about Dale and the havoc he was causing in her life. 

She looked at the clock by her bed and the picture of her and Lance. She did love him. With all her heart. She stretched and got out of bed. She had to help Ben pack so he could go to his grandparents. 

He went into his room and woke him up. Tara and Georgie had brought him home with them and Tara was asleep on the couch. Ben stretched as he heard his name being called. 

"Hey mom. Why didn't you introduce me to Junior? I found out he was there and I didn't even get to meet him." 

Allisa turned to look at Ben. She never told Dale about him. She kept that from him. Everything seemed clear suddenly. Clear as a bell. She was living in a fantasy world and Junior was the star. The main attraction. If she was thinking of something real with Dale she would have told him right away about Ben. 

Her feelings for Dale weren't based on reality. But on a bunch of what if's. Lance was real. Lance loved Ben. Lance loved her. 

Yes, Dale was sexy as hell, but that was all she knew about him. She little if anything else. She ruffled Ben's hair. 

"I'm sorry, kiddo. Next time Lance has him up and I will introduce you." She stood up and walked out of the bedroom. 

She sat on the couch suddenly feeling a whole lot better. She would not let her attraction to Dale Earnhardt Jr. cloud what was real and important in her life anymore. The simple fact of NOT telling him about Ben was all she needed. She knew it would still be hard to be around him for a while, but she was confident that given time they could be friends. 

~~~~~ 

Georgie stretched and got out of bed. She was wearing her favorite pajama bottoms. They were gold with little skulls and crossbones on them. She had on one of her NSYNC t-shirts on. Something she only wore when she knew that JC was not around. She still a few little fan like obsessive behaviors. 

She walked out into the kitchen and grabbed a Pepsi out of the fridge. She went into the living room to watch some MTV. She went to sit down when a voice from the couch spoke. 

"Hey beautiful." 

She screamed and turned around. 

"JOSHUA SCOTT CHASEZ I am going to kill you!!!" She grabbed the nearest pillow and started to hit him. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her down on the couch next to him. 

She started to laugh when she saw him smiling. 

"There is no reason to wake up the neighborhood. And there is no reason for us to be awake. So..lay here be quiet and   
let me hold you while I go back to sleep." 

She smiled to herself and got comfortable with JC holding her. 

She closed her eyes to try and sleep when she heard him whisper in her neck. 

"Nice t-shirt by they way." 

She had complete forgotten what she was wearing. She just shook her head and closed her eyes and chuckled a little. 

"Now stop laughing so we can sleep." 

He kissed the back of her neck and it sent shivers down her spine. 

"Love you Georgie." 

She smiled. "Love you, too."


	36. Chapter 36

JC tried to move and then realized he couldn't. He opened his eyes and saw the back of Georgie's head. She still had some glitter in her hair from the night before. He smiled as he thought that she was going to be his wife. They were going to be together. Always. 

He leaned up and kissed the back of her neck. The same place he kissed her a couple of hours earlier and felt her shiver. He loved the fact that he could have that kind of effect on her. She sighed in her sleep and he smiled. He moved his lips closer to her ear and kissed along her jaw. 

She was still asleep he could tell, but it was too much fun so he didn't stop. He moved back down to her neck and placed a few more small kisses there. She started to stir so he picked up his head to see what she was doing. 

Georgie felt like she was in some dream. She felt little kisses on her neck, but she was asleep. She decided to go with the dream and tried to roll over. When she did she fell off the couch. 

"OUCH" 

She hit her head on the corner of the coffee table. She looked up to see JC looking over the edge of the couch and laughing at her. 

"Good morning. Sunshine. I see you fell for me all over again." 

JC shook Georgie who had laid her head on the floor and covered her eyes with her arm. 

"JC I think you need one way ticket to Hades." 

He chuckled at her comeback. "Oh is that all you could come up with?" 

She scowled at him from under her arm. 

"Bite me JC. You scared the bejeezus out of me earlier and then you throw me off the couch. Is this what I am going to have to put up with after we are married?" 

Georgie was trying hard not to laugh. She couldn't help but give up the fight when she heard JC chuckle. She sat up and crossed her legs and looked at him laying on the couch. Their faces level with each other. She reached up and put her hand on his cheek. She smiled at him. 

"I love you you know?" 

He nodded his head. "Yea I know." He turned and kissed the palm of her hand. "I love you too." 

They sat there looking at each other for a few seconds. Then Georgie asked what she had been wondering about for a little bit now. 

"JC, when or what are we going to tell the fans and the press?" 

JC sat up. He hadn't really told anyone about him and Georgie. He was on vacation and it was none of their business. But awards shows and appearances were coming up and she was going to be with him. 

"I think I will talk to Johnny when we meet with him next week." He held her hands with his. "You know it's not going to be easy. You might become one of the most hated women in the world." 

Georgie laughed. "I know. I hated Bobbie." 

JC rolled his eyes. "Everyone hated her and for good reason. You they will hate just because you are with me." 

Georgie thought for a second. "Well then I guess I will deal with it. I will be ok. As they say 'this too, shall pass.' And it will one way or the other. Either the fans will like me and accept me or eventually..god forbid..NSYNC will end and no one will care. Either way we will deal with it. Together." 

JC smiled at her. He wondered how he got so lucky. Georgie was an unusual girl. With other ones he was always worried what the press and fans would do to them. With Georgie, he was almost afraid for them instead. He leaned in and kissed her. He knew she would be ok with it all and like she said, they would deal with it together. 

"So what are we doing today?" Georgie stood up and stretched. JC looked at the t-shirt she was wearing. It looked new but it was one he had never see. 

"Where did you get that shirt?" 

Georgie looked down. "Um...E-bay..I thought it was cool the way it was made. With these cool pictures on it." She turned around so he could see the whole thing. 

JC nodded his head. "Yea it's cool." He stood up and followed her into the kitchen. He was watching as she poured a bowl of cereal. 

Watching her like that he knew he had to marry her and soo.

"So have a date in mind?" 

Georgie dropped the bowl. "Ahhh, date? For the wedding?" She still had a hard time believing it. 

"Yea the wedding. I think the sooner the better. Like before we leave on tour again in April. That way you can come with me." 

Georgie stood there looking at him dumbfounded. She looked at the calendar. "I guess we do need to make some sort of plans. Why don't we get everyone else over here so we can talk about it?" 

JC nodded. "Ok I guess we know what we are doing today." He turned and went into the living room to call everyone up.


	37. Chapter 37

It was about 3pm when everyone could get over to Georgie's apartment. Justin and Britney were first. Then Lance and Chris came and Joey arrived fashionably late. 

When Chris walked in the door, is first thing to do was hunt down Tara. 

"Dude, where is she?" 

Georgie yelled from the kitchen. "She is still sleeping." 

Chris knew where the key to her apartment was so he grabbed it and went to wake her up. Joey, Justin and Britney sat on the couch looking at a calendar that JC had on the coffee table. 

Britney got up and went into the kitchen with Georgie. She gave her a hug. "Hey Brit." They smiled at each other. 

Britney pulled out a big huge book from her bag and handed it to Georgie. "I think this might help you with all theses plans." 

Georgie opened it. it was full of pictures, phone numbers, samples. All wedding related. 

"Well, I guess someone is planning ahead." 

Britney smiled. "I have been collecting stuff since I was 12 for that book. It has come in handy for a few of my friends." 

Georgie smiled. "Cool thanks." They sat down at the table and started to look through it. After about 30 minutes JC came in with the calendar. 

"Hey we talked about it and looked at our schedule." 

He put the calendar in front of her. He pointed to March 16th. Georgie's eyes got really big. 'A little over 3 months away.' Britney saw her statement. 

She smiled. "Trust me. We can get this done." 

Georgie looked from JC to Britney back to JC. "Alright. March 16th it is." 

JC leaned down and kissed her. "Love you." 

She smiled up at him. "Love you too." 

~~~~~~ 

Allisa's cell rang and she assumed it was Lance. "Hey babe.." 

She heard laughter on the other end. "I wish." 

She shook her head when she realized that Dale was on the phone. She was 3/4 of the way to her parents house. 

"What do you want Junior?" She didn't think he would give up so easily. 

"Just wanted to make sure that you were ok." 

She rolled her eyes. He really was a sweetheart. "I'm fine. I am almost at my parents house." 

"Good. Just drive careful and..ahh.. I will see ya when I see ya." 

"Ok..bye Junior. " 

She heard him sigh. "Bye Lissa." 

She hit end on her phone. 

She sighed. The way he said her name always made her want to talk to him more. She figured it was one of those things that she would have to deal with, and hopefully it would go away. 

Her phone rang again this time she just said hello. 

"Hey Lissa it's Georgie. Make sure you keep march 16th open." 

"Ok and why would that be?" 

"Because that is when JC and I are getting married." 

Allisa grabbed a small pocket calendar out of her purse. 

"You do realize that is only a few months   
away?" 

Georgie laughed. "Yes. We are aware of that. That is why we are starting things now. Brit is here and Tara. When are   
you going to be back home?" 

Allisa thought for a second. "Umm..is Lance there?" 

"LAAAAANCCCCCCEEEEE" Georgie yelled in Allisa's ear. 

"Yea he is coming. Here she wants to talk to you for a second." 

"Hey Lissa, how's the trip?" 

Allisa smiled. "Good, but I wondered something. If I didn't stay here for a couple of days and just came back home, could we take our little trip before you go back on tour. Georgie is going to need all the help she can get." 

Lance looked around at Tara, Georgie, and Brit. They   
had stuff all over. He agreed that they needed help. 

"Sure. Going just before the tour would probably be really good for me too. So then you will be home when?" 

Allisa looked at her watch. "Ummm. about 11:00 tonight. I will just head over to my apartment and call you when I get in." 

Lance nodded his head. "Ok sounds good. You just drive careful tonight. Here's Georgie back. Love you girl." 

"Love you too Lance." 

"Lissa, you coming back right away?" 

Alllisa laughed. "Yup. I will back by around 11:00 tonight. Then you can fill me in on what you guys have so far." 

"Alrightythen, see ya when you get here. Drive careful." 

"OK I will. See ya later." 

Allisa hit end and looked at Ben. He was fast asleep in the seat next to her. She pictured him in a tux. It had been a given for a long time that when Georgie got married, Ben would be the ring bearer. 

She ruffled his hair. 'He will look so cute in a tux.' Then she pictured the rest of the groomsmen in tuxes. The rest of the drive to her parents and home she gave thought to the upcoming wedding and got very excited.


	38. Chapter 38

2 MONTHS LATER 

Dale was sitting in his hotel room in Daytona. He had three tickets he wanted to send to Lance, Allisa and Ben for the Daytona 500. He knew Ben would love it and Lance had told him a couple years back that he had always wanted to go. 

So he was sitting there debating whether or not to invite Allisa along. They had seen each other a few times over the last couple of months. Each time he saw her he fell more in love with her, but at the same time he noticed that she was falling even more in love with Lance. 

Although once in a while, if he caught her eye, he could still see that he had an effect on her. He didn't know how she kept all of this from Lance. He knew Lance knew nothing about it. In fact when him and Dale talked the week before Lance was seriously considering asking Allisa to marry him. 

Dale's reaction to that was pleasant enough on the phone, but as soon as he hung up, he lost it. He knew that if he had pushed, even after he found out about Ben, Allisa would be with him. But he didn't push. He let her do what she thought was right. 

Dale stood up and went to the window and looked out. It was beautiful out. A few months ago he actually entertained the thought that Allisa would have been here with him. She would share in the thrill of Daytona with him. 

Ever since they..or she..decided they would try the friend thing, he found out that she really did love racing. As did Georgie and, he could tell the last time he was there, Tara was being 'sucked in' as she liked to call it. 

He had even thought about giving tickets to JC and Georgie for an engagement present, but when he mentioned it to JC he was told that it would be hard to get there with the wedding only being a month away. 

So now here was, wondering if he should invite them. And have Allisa share with him his love of racing, when he knew deep down, he would only be hurt in the process. 

Dale sighed and walked back to the desk. He put the tickets in the envelope and got it ready to send. He opened his laptop to send and email to Allisa. It was just easier. Lance sometimes didn't get to his for a couple of weeks. Allisa checked hers everyday. He just wanted her to be on the look out for a present for them. 

He hit send. 'Short and sweet,' when what he really wanted to tell her was that he loved her. He rubbed the back of his neck and got up and laid down. He sighed again knowing that he was going to have another night full of dreams about her. Dreams that he couldn't do a thing about. 

~~~~~~~ 

Allisa decide to take a break from addressing invitations to JC and Georgie's wedding. She had the last 50 to send out and then all of them would be done. So would most of the wedding preparations. All that was needed was the little stuff. Final fittings, tux rentals, ect. ect.ect. 

She logged on to her AOL. She heard the familiar words of "you've got mail" and went directly to her mailbox. She had only one email and it was from Junior. She smiled a little at the thought of him. 

Over the past two months she had done a pretty good job of keeping her reactions to him at bay. A few times it proved hard, but for the most part she was pretty cool about it. 

She read it and wondered what Junior could be sending them. She smiled again at how good Dale was with Ben. She admitted to herself, and herself only that MAYBE just MAYBE if Lance were not in the picture, she could be with Dale. 

All she knew for sure was that, her attraction to him was still as real as ever. It had gotten better over the past couple of months, but there were times when it took all she had not to fall into his arms. 

She logged off and turned off the computer. She sighed as she thought about one of those times. 

......flashback....... 

"HA HA Junior your it!!" Ben yelled as Junior had his turn as it in the game of tag that he, Chris, and Ben had started. 

Allisa laughed as she watched the two older men playing with her son. Her heart was tugged at the sight of Dale with Ben. He kept doing things that made it hard for her to remain sane. 

She had secretly hoped that Dale wasn't good with kids or that he didn't like them or something. Then she would have a more tangible method of dealing with her emotions. As it turned out he was great with Ben. 

Dale looked up to see Allisa looking at them. He smiled, because he recognized the look on her eyes. She was thinking about him again. He was torn. On one hand he loved the fact that she couldn't stay immune to him, and then on the other he felt bad when he saw the sadness that followed when she realized what she was thinking. 

Allisa caught Dale's eye and they looked at each other for a few seconds longer than needed. Dale told her without words how he was feeling. Allisa just shook her head and went back into the house. 

She heard Dale tell Chris and Ben he would be right back. She got a little upset because she knew he knew they would be alone in the house. 

Dale walked in without even looking at her and walked up to the sink and got a drink. He was looking out the window. He never even turned around. 

"Lissa, I know what you are thinking. I saw it in your eyes. Your not going to be able to fight me forever. The longer this goes on the more hurt Lance will be." 

He finished his glass of water and turned without even looking her way once. 

Allisa just watched him leave and damned him for knowing her so well. The only part he had wrong was hurting Lance. She would not do anything to do that. She loved him too much. 

.........end flashback........ 

Allisa shook her head. She would not let Junior effect her relationship with Lance. She hadn't thus far and she wasn't about to start. 

She crawled up on the bed and under the covers. This time when she closed her eyes she prayed to God she dreams about Lance. Because usually it was about Junior. And she wanted that to stop.


	39. Chapter 39

Allisa, Tara, Georgie and Britney were taking a much needed rest from the wedding plans. Georgie turned on the TV and immediately went to ESPN. They were starting to cover stuff going on in Daytona for the race. 

"Dude I so wish I had the time to go to the race, but with the wedding only a month off I need all the time I can get." 

Allisa nodded her agreement. "I know what ya mean. I wanted to take Ben there this year." 

Brit and Tara looked at each other and rolled their eyes. 

"Umm..Tara I think a game of cards is screaming our name in the kitchen." 

Tara stood up with Britney. "Yea, we can leave the rednecks to their race." 

"HEY!!!" Georgie yelled and threw a pillow off the couch at her. "YOU are starting to like racing too young lady, so I would just shut up if I were you." 

Tara stuck her head back out from around the kitchen door and then stuck her tongue out. "Whatever." 

Allisa and Georgie laugh. "So, getting nervous Georgie?" 

She thought a minute and shrugged her shoulders. "Not nervous as much as I would say....SCARED TO DEATH!!" 

Allisa burst out laughing and Georgie scowled at her. 

"You would laugh." 

Allisa shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's just I can't see you scared about anything." 

"Well, there is a first time for everything and marrying one of the most popular guys in the world can make one pretty scared." 

 

Allisa looked at her. "JC loves you. Never worry about that." 

Georgie wondered how Allisa could read her so well sometimes. 

"I know Lissa. I know. It's just..I..what if he wakes up one day and realizes..'I made the biggest mistake of my   
life..' I don't think I would survive losing him." 

Allisa smiled. "Girl, if he thinks that ever, he is a loser. Then you take him for everything." Georgie couldn't help but laugh. "But seriously George, he loves you to much." 

Georgie sighed. "I just can't wait for this wedding to get over with." Allisa nodded. They sat there in silence watching run downs of races past. 

Allisa looked at Georgie and smiled. 

"What?" 

She shrugged. "Nothin' really. I was just wondering if you   
ever finished the JC on heroin story." 

Georgie had tried her best to forget about that. "Bite me Lissa." They both laugh. 

Tara and Britney come in. "What is so funny in here?" 

Georgie points to Allisa. "Lissa here thinks she is   
the comedian." 

Allisa looked up at the girls. "Hey! I just asked if she ever finished writing that story." 

Georgie looked at Allisa. Britney had no clue what they were talking about. 

"Shut up Allisa. I mean it." 

 

Britney looked confused. "What story?" 

Tara and Allisa start to laugh. "Don't even think about it you two." 

Allisa raised an eyebrow at Tara. Tara shrugged. "Why not?" 

"Well, Brit," 

Before Allisa could finish Georgie was on top of her on the couch. "SHUT UP!!" 

Tara was laughing so hard tears were coming out of her eyes. 

"Would somebody tell me what is going on?" 

Tara was the only one left who wasn't pinned. "Well, um..Georgie.." 

Georgie spun around. "Say anything and you die." 

"Ok Georgie, talk to me. What did you write that is so awful you don't want to tell me about it?" 

As Britney asked the question, the guys all came waltzing in. 

Chris heard what Britney asked. "Ohhhhh did Miss Gerogie get caught again?" 

He went up and put his arm round Tara. Tara and Allisa both start laughing. JC walks over and kisses Georgie on the   
cheek. 

"OK that's it. I am going to take a shower or something. I ...I just ahhhhhh!!!" Georgie ran towards the bathroom hearing JC and Chris start laughing as well. 

Georgie had just got out of the shower when she heard a knock on the bathroom door. 

"WHAT?" 

She heard someone chuckle. "Some of us have to use the bathroom, so are you done hiding in there?" 

She wanted to hit her head on the wall. The last thing she had wanted was for everyone to know of her minor psychotic   
episodes concerning NSYNC. 

"I'm coming. Just hold on to you boxers Chris. I will   
be right out." 

Georgie stuck her hair up and walked slowly out of the bathroom. She walked past Chris who just winked at her. 'I so don't want to go in that living room.' She sighed and rolled her eyes. 

There was only one thing to do. Just go out there and get it over with. She should have figured it would have gotten out sooner or later. 

She walked slowly around the corner to see everyone talking. She sat down next to JC on the couch. 

"Feel better after the shower?" 

She nodded her head and wondered why there were no smart remarks. She decided to thank what ever gods there were that they all decided to let it pass.

"Yea. Much better." 

JC kissed her and jumped up. "Anyone want a drink?" 

Georgie raised her hand. "I would like..." 

JC smiled. "A Pepsi." 

She smiled at him. "How did ya guess?" 

Justin was trying his best to remain silent and not laugh his head off. Everyone told him to be good because she was really embarrassed by the whole thing.

Lance saw the look on Justin's face. He walked over and sat next to him. "J don't say anything." 

Justin looked at Lance. "Come on. This is classic. You know   
she would say something to me if the situations were reversed. Besides to find out that the first one she ever wrote was about ME after the things she said to me when we all first met...you gotta know I can't let that go for long.." 

Lance nodded his head. After Allisa and Tara told them about Georgie writing the fanfiction, none of them could stop laughing. JC wanted them to be nice because she had been embarrassed enough. But J had a point. 

Georgie hated Justin when they first met, so to find out that she wrote her first one about him was kinda funny. 

"Well, J just don't be too mean about it." 

Justin smiled. "I won't be. I promise." 

Georgie and the other girls had gone back to making phone calls, finalizing everything for the wedding. Justin walked up to the table and sat between Britney and Georgie. 

"Something I could help you with Timberlake?" Georgie   
asked indicating that he was in the way. 

Justin smiled at her. "Not really Miss Georgie. I just thought I might be able to help with something." Justin flashed her one of his million dollar smiles. 

Georgie looked at Britney finding her trying to not laugh. She looked back at Justin who just winked at her. Her eyes got wide and she looked at Tara and Allisa who would not under any circumstances look at her. So she looked back at Justin. 

"What are you looking at Timberlake?" Praying to God   
that what she thought was not what was going on. 

He ****ed his head sideways at her. "I was just wondering. Did you always hate me or was there a time when I was your favorite?" 

Georgie's mouth dropped open and you could have heard a pin drop in the room. JC came walking in at that moment. He saw the gleam in Justin's eye and the horrified look on Georgie's face. 

He wanted to laugh, but he was trying to be nice for the girl he loved. But this was too funny to step in and try to stop. So he walked over and sat on the couch next to Chris and Lance. Lance whispered to JC. 

"This should be fun." JC nodded. He was confident once the shock wore off she would be fine. 

Georgie was aware of the stares around her. She wanted to kill Allisa and Tara. She really didn't care if they all found out about the ones about JC or the one about Lance. But the one about Justin. That was one she did not want broadcast. 

She breathed in deep, got up and walked into the study. Everyone was wondering what she was doing. She smiled to herself. 'This should be fun.' She opened up the bottom drawer of her desk. Found a folder. It contained all the stories she wrote. Even the JC on heroin story. She hated leaving stuff unfinished. 

It also had a rough draft of the one that Tara started about Britney and Justin. A few printed out pages of the slash fiction that Allisa had written. She wanted to laugh. 'They will be soooooo mad.' 

She walked out and threw the pile on the table. "Ok here are the stories in question. Read them. Go ahead." She turned and started to walk away. Justin was the first to grab the pile. "O yea Tara and Allisa have a story or two in there as well." She continued to walk and sit on the couch. 

Chris and Lance jumped up and headed for the pile of papers before Allisa and Tara could stop them had found their stories. 

Tara and Allisa were shocked. They looked at Georgie who was just smiling big and bopping her head to music that was playing in her brain. They looked at each other. Tara shrugged her shoulders. 

"Well that's what we get for messing with her." Allisa nodded her head still trying to figure out what story she had of hers. 

 

Allisa then realized what one. She turned her head again towards Georgie who stuck her tongue out. "O MY   
GOD" 

Alissa put her head on the table when Lance spoke. "JC, dude your GAY in this story." 

Allisa wanted to cry. Now she realized why Georgie wanted her to be quiet. 

JC started to laugh. "Well that's um...interesting."   
He walked over and sat next to Georgie. "Nice comeback." 

She smiled. "Yea I thought so." 

JC put his arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "So does this mean I get to read them too?" 

JC felt her shrug."I guess if you want." 

"Maybe someday." 

They sat there and watched as everyone read the stories that the girls had wrote. 

Chris spoke up, "Ok Tara your first one is about Justin too?" 

Justin stood up. "That's right baby. Who the man? Who..the..man?" Everyone started to laugh. 

Allisa looked at her watch, she knew Ben should be home from school soon. She ran and put a note on the door telling him where she was. 

After about a half hour of fun with the stories, the girls started getting back to work. Georgie hoped that would be the end of the story thing and anything else embarrassing for that matter. 

"HEY MOM!!!" Ben yelled as he came in Georgie's apartment. 

"I can hear just fine Ben. No need to yell." 

Ben smiled. "Sorry, but we got a letter from Junior." 

Allisa's head shot up to look at Lance but he didn't hear anything. Ben handed her the letter and she opened it. It was three tickets to the Daytona 500. The big race. They were for her, Ben and Lance. 

"Cool mom." Ben grabbed them and showed them to Lance. 

Lance walked over and sat next to Allisa. "You wanna go? I mean it is only for the one race." 

Georgie looked at the tickets. "Go Lissa. Everything is almost done here. But make sure you take really good pictures." 

Allisa shrugged her shoulders. She was still a little nervous of things with Dale, but they had gotten better. Besides, she would be there with Lance. 

"Sure. Why not." 

Lance smiled. "Cool. We will make a weekend of it. Leave on Friday and come home after the race on Sunday." 

Ben smiled big. "ALRIGHT!!!" Ben reached on the table to grab some chips when he noticed all of the stories. 

"Georgie what's up with all your stories being out?" 

Everyone, including Georgie laughed. Ben just rolled his eyes and went to play video games. He would never understand adults.


	40. Chapter 40

Allisa was packing her clothes for the weekend and Tara was helping Ben with his. For the last three days the race is all Ben could talk about. It has been all Allisa could think about. She would have been a lot more excited if there wasn't the whole Dale issue to contend with. 

Although, she had to admit to herself, when she had talked to him the night before her heart did not skip as many beats as it had in the past. She thought this was good thing. A good sign indeed. 

She looked at the clock by her bed and wondered where Lance was. he was gong to crash at her place so that they could leave early. He had said he would be there at about 5PM. it was now 6:30 and she was worried. She walked into the bathroom and grabbed all her soaps and stuff. Then the phone rang. her hands were full so she asked Tara to get it. 

"TARA can you get that for me?" 

"Sure No prob." 

Tara picks up the phone. "Hello, Lissa's place." 

Lance smiled. "Hey Tara. it's Lance." 

Tara looked at her watch. "Dude you are so past late. What's up?" 

Lance chuckled. "I need to talk to Lissa. Is she around?" 

"Yea hold on. LISSA LANCE IS ON THE PHONE!!" 

She yelled and Lance pulled the phone away from his ear and laughed. There was only one other person who could   
yell louder than Tara and that was Gerogie. 

"Hey sweetie. Where are you?" 

"Well, I'm in a meeting. Some stuff has come up and I am not going to be able to with you this weekend. I am hoping that I can get up there Sunday for the race though. " 

Tara was looking at Allisa. She had turned as white as a ghost. 

"Lance are you sure. I will wait till you can go." 

Lance chuckled. "No honey. I already called Junior and he said he would take care of you this weekend. He will meet you at the hotel and give you the grand tour." 

Allisa swallowed and fell to the couch. 'This can't be happening. Dear god in heaven, please tell me this isn't happening.' 

"Lance I don't want to go without you. Please let's just go together on Sunday. it's no big deal." 

Lance sighed. "Lissa, I might not even be able to make it up on Sunday. I don't want you and Ben to miss out becasue I have to work. Just go. You guys will have a great time." 

Alissa was trying to think of a way to get out of going. She knew Ben would be upset if they didn't. 

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the couch. "I guess, if your sure. Ben and I can go up for   
the weekend." 

She heard Chris telling Lance to hurry up. "Listen sweety I gotta go. I will call you later. Drive careful and I love you." 

Allisa sighed. "Love you to Lance." She hung up the phone as noticed Tara looking at her. 

"Lance had to cancel for the weekend. The guys have to work." 

Tara looked at Allisa. Something else was up. She just knew it. Her face had turned white and well she just looked like someone kicked her. She shook her head. If something was wrong her and Georgie would know about it. 

"Well, girl if you and Ben are still going then we gotta finish packing. You need to be on the road in 30 minitues." 

Allisa nodded her head still in disbelief that she was going to spend the entire weekend with Junior are Lance's behest. She had a very very bad feeling.


	41. Chapter 41

The whole ride to Daytona Allisa was a nervous wreck. Ben really didn't notice anythign becasue he was way to excited about the race. When they arrived at the hotel, there was a message from Dale waiting for Allisa. She got checked in and her and Ben made their way to the hotel room. 

Inside Ben ran for the in-house Sega. Allisa sat on her bed and read the note. She breathed a huge sigh of relief when she read that Junior would not be around for the weekend. 

His car had a serious issue during practice on Thursday and they were taking Friday and Saturday to fix it. He was sorry that he couldn't entertain them but he would see them on Sunday and maybe he would try to call sometime on Saturday. 

Allisa crumpled up the note and threw it in the garbage. She was still hoping that Lance would show up so that all three of them could be at the race. She stood up and went into the bathroom to unpack that stuff. She looked at herself in the mirror. 

"Young lady. DON"T do anything stupid this weekend." 

She had been giving herself that peptalk for the last week. Even when Lance was coming with them she was a little nervous about what Junior would do. AND she was not 100% sure of what her own actions would be seeing him again. 

She shook her head and went back into the room. 

"Hey sweetie. I am going to take a nap for a few mintiues then we can go out and see what there is to do ok?" 

The answer she got was a nod of Ben's head. She could sleep the rest of the day and Ben would be happy. 

~~~~~~~ 

Georgie and Tara were alone for the first time in days. They hadn't been able to talk much at all with wedding plans and Chris whisking her away to do all sorts of stuff. Georgie was glad that JC liked to hang at home and chill. 

"So what are we going to do tonight?" 

Tara looked at Georgie and shrugged her shoulders. All the guys were going to be busy all weekend. They all planned to meet at Georgie's to watcht the race on Sunday. The guys   
wanted to watch so Tara and Britney had no choice. Lance said he might come unless he had time to make to Daytona to be with Allisa and Ben. 

"All I know Tara, is that I don't want to do anything having to do with a wedding thank you. I am soooooo wedding planned out right now." 

Tara laughed. "No problem. Let's go shopping. We have done that in ages. Just shopping for stuff that is of non importance." 

Georgie smiled. Tara was right. All they had shopped for in the last month or so was wedding things. "That sounds like a plan." They grab their coats and head out the door. 

~~~~~~~~ 

Meetings with Johnny never were short and sweet. This time three of the guys were agrivated beyond belief. This meeting was about the second leg of the tour. Unfortunatly some of the venues backed out just after the dates were announced so they had to sit down and try to find other places to do the concert. 

This was a process that could take days. Lance shook his head. "I guess I won't be making it to Daytona   
after all." 

JC put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands. It was becoming almost unberable to be away from Georgie for more than a few hours. He was practicly living in her apartment. 

He smiled to himself. He loved seeing her wake up in the morning. he loved tucking her into bed at night. He loved watching her sleep. He loved everything about her. He couldn't wait until this wedding was done. 

Chris was pacing back and forth in the room. He was annoyed becasue this was the first weekend in a long time that all of them would be getting together and NOT planning Georgie and JC's wedding. They all were just going to hang out and relax. Now Tara was out having fun without him and he did not like that one bit. Not one one little bit. he sat in a chair and pouted. 

Joey looked at his three friends and wanted to laugh. they all wanted to be with their women and they were pouting. He himself was pissed because him and Kelly were going to take Brianna to Disney World and those plans got shot down. 

Justin was the only one not to bothered by the whole thing. He smiled as he looked around at his friends. Fourtantly for him Britney was in meetings all weekend as well or he would be upset too. 

They all looked up at Johnny as he hung up the phone. He didn't look to happy. "Well, boys. The first one that we have to fix is the one on March 14th. I just got talking to the arena manager." 

His silence was elongated as he looked at the four guys. He knew that JC and Georgie had planned the wedding thinking that they would be married before they went back on tour. It just didn't work out that way. They would be only on tour about a week or so before the wedding and Georgie was fine with it. Johnny didn't hear the end of it from JC for about a week. 

Now he had some more bad news. "The only time they could reschedule it was for March 16th." 

JC's head popped up and the other four guys looked at him. "HELL NO! You told them no right Johnny?" 

When Johnny didn't say anything. JC stood up. "NO. I won't be there. I am getting married. Do what you have to, but I WON'T BE THERE!! Let me know when the rest of the dates are settled." He turned and walked out of the room. 

Lance looked at the door where JC had walked out of. Then he looked back at Johnny. "JOhnny, we can't do that. Make it for later in the year. Something. None of us will be there. Our best friend is getting married." 

Johnny sighed as he saw that all of the guys agreed. "OK. Someone go get him. We got to get the rest of these taken care of. Tell him we will work something else for that date." 

Justin smiled as he got up to find JC and let him know   
that the wedding was still on.


	42. Chapter 42

The weekend went really fast for everyone. It was Sunday morning and everyone was sleeping in. Allisa on the other hand could not get any sleep. She was blessed with the fact that Junior had never called, but then she got a call from Lance saying that he wouldn't be able to make it to the race. 

Now she had to face Dale all alone. She got up and walked to the window of the hotel. She was sure about her feelings. She loved Lance but she still had the occasional slip in hormons when it came to him. Her heart would do a little flip sometimes when she saw him. Nothing major really, except when you consider the history that they share. 

She was starteld out of her thoughts by the phone ringing. She jumped and walked over to it. 

"Hello." 

"Hey girl what's up?" 

Allisa smiled. It was Georgie. She knew that Georgie was more than a little dissapointed that she couldn't go to the race. 

"What are you doing up George? You should be sleeping in." 

Georgie laughed. "I could ask you the same question?" 

Allisa sighed. 

"What's going on Lissa? I kow something is up with you. What is it?" 

Allisa loved Georgie but she was the last person she wanted to know about the whole Junior thing. Georgie would rip into her one way and down the other. 

"Nothing Georgie. I just miss Lance." 

Georgie knew there was more to it. Allisa had been disratcible all week. "WEll, Lance will be here today to watch the race with rest of us. If you get on TV wave to us OK?" 

Allisa laughed. "Ok I will, but I highly doubt I will be near any TV cameras. You guys have fun today and I will be heading home as soon as the race is done." 

"Ok girl. Give us a call when you leave. So we know you are on your way." 

"No prob. See ya later." 

Allisa hangs up the phone wishing she was home watching the   
race with her friends instead of the lion's den. 

"BEN, honey get up. We have got to get ready to go. The race starts in a couple of hours." She laughed as Ben jumped out of bed. Already dressed and ready to go. 

~~~~~~~ 

Dale was pacing around in the garage by his car. The weekend SUCKED. Nothing went the way he wanted it too. First the car. For some reason the engine was overheating and it took the whole weekend to figure out the problem. But, they seemed to have it figured out. They made a few more adjustments earlier that morning. 

Now the only way to be sure that everything was going to be OK was during the race. Not the best place to find out if everything was working but they had to deal with it. 

So fixing that was a pain. Then there was the fact that Allisa was in Daytona all weekend without Lance. Dale sat down in a chair looking at his car. When Lance had called him and told him that only Allisa and Ben were coming, he couldn't help get excited. 

Even though things were going great for Allisa and Lance, Dale could not get rid of the feelings he had for her. he knew it was wrong, but he had planned on getting Allisa to admit that he affected her more than she was letting on. 

WEll, that plan went ary too. Now he wasn't even going to see her until just before the race started. All in all the weekend sucked. 

The only solace was that he had the pole positon. Junior smiled as he thought about that. Then he frowned. It had been only a year since his dad had died, and at this very race so he was nervous about that. He missed his dad. Terriably. 

He heard a comotion coming towards the garage and he quickly wiped a way the tears that were falling from his eyes. he didn't want anyone to see him crying. 

He stood up as his pit crew came walking in to get things ready for the race. 

~~~~~~~~~ 

Georgie was helping Mitch bring up some more food for the race. Tara was arrnaging the livingroom in a more comfortable setting. It was 11AM and the race started in two hours. The guys would be there in about a half an hour. 

"TARA..OPEN THE DOOR!?!?!?" 

Tara ran and opend it to see Georgie and Mitch with two platters of sandwhiches. "Are we feeding an army?" 

Georgie laughed. "Joey is going to be here remember." 

Tara laughed. "O yea right." Tara grabs the tray from Mitch and follows Georgie into the kitchen. 

"I think we have enough food." Tara and Georgie look at all of the food that they had. 

"Yea I'd say so." 

They hear the doorbell ring and then the voices of everyone that was going to be there. 

Tara and Georgie go out into the livingroom to say hi to everyone. Britney and Justin had taken their places on the love seat. Chris grabbed Tara and landed on one of the beanbag chairs. Kelly and Joey sit on the couch and put Brianna in the playpen. 

Georgie sat down on another beanbag chair and JC laid his head in her lap. She started playing with his hair and he smiled at her touch. Lance sat down next to the playpen and started making faces at Brianna. Which caused her to laugh. 

Georgie grabbed the TV remote and turned it on. "O cool. Tara check it." 

Tara looked up to the TV. 

"OHHHH. Competion." 

"NOw way. Junior will so kick his butt." 

Tara laughed. "Yea you wish." 

Chris spoke up. "Could someone explain to me what you two are talking about?" 

Tara laughed. "Junior has the pole position and Tony Stewart has the second position. This should be a fun race now." Georgie rolled her eyes. 

"Tara you are such a loser. You didn't even care until you saw where Tony was." 

Tara sighed. "So?" Georgie laughed and threw a pillow at her. 

"Ok guys. Hush. it's going to start."


	43. Chapter 43

Half way through the race, Allisa and Ben made their way down to Junior's section. He had sent them passes and Ben was begging for a closer look. They were on a yellow flag so she decided to head down. 

Junior was looking all over for Allisa. She never showed herself before the race and he was a little dissapointed. He asked Tony through the mic on his helmet if she had come down yet. Tony said she just showed up. 

Junior looked to see where they were. He smiled as he saw the awed look on Ben's face. "Hey Tony, let me talk to Ben." 

AS he was pulling out, everyne was still under a yellow flag. Sterling Marlin had hit the wall and it was pretty bad. He was ok, but the car was totaled. 

Tony handed a head set to Ben. "Say hi Ben." Ben looked confused but said "hi" anyhow. He smiled big when he heard Dale. 

"Hey sport. You having fun?" 

Ben laughed. "Yea Junior. This is so cool. And you are doing great." 

Dale smiled. "Thanks kiddo. Let me talk to your mom." 

"OK." He turns to his mom. "Here mom. He wants to talk to you." 

Ben hands her the head set. She looked at it wide eyed and then turned her attention to his car going around the track. 

She puts it on. "Hello?" She heard him chuckle slightly. 

"Hey Lissa. Thanks for coming. Are you having fun?" 

She didn't know what to say. "Thanks for inviting us. Lance wished he could have been here but there was a problem with some of the tour dates. he wanted me to tell you hi for him. He is going to be at Georgie's house watching." 

At the mention of Lance Dale's heart fell a little. "I will have to call him after the race. Are you going to be around for a little bit afterwords?" 

She didn't have time to answer becasue the yellow flag was lifted and they were off. She handed the headset back to Tony. 

Allisa smiled because her heart didn't do a flip flop when she talked to him. Her and Ben got a better view for the race down where they were at. 

The second half of the race was more exciting. Tony and Junior were fighting for 1st place. ben was jumping up and down screaming Junior's name. Allisa was excited to see two great drivers battle it out for 1st. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Georgie and Tara had since taken over the TV set. Both screaming the name of the driver that they wanted to win. JC and everyone was laughing. None of them could understand what the big deal about racing was. By the last 10 laps Lance was on the floor with Tara and Georgie rooting on his friend. 

Justin made his way to the floor because he was actually starting to enjoy it. Britney rolled her eyes and sat with him. JC got behind Georgie and Chris sat next to Tara. So all of them were sitting on the floor in front of the TV. 

Kelly and Joey were watching from the couch. Brinna was sleeping in Joey's arms. 

All eyes were on the TV as the final laps were driven. There was silence in Georgie's apartment as Tony and Junior were neck and neck in the final lap. Georgie jumped up as in the final seconds Junior jumped ahead and won the Daytona 500. 

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Allisa and Ben were screaming as loudly as everyone else when Junior won. Tony grabbed Allisa and asked her if she wanted to get down closer to him. She was so excited she never thought to say no. 

Junior was taking a few victory laps as he saw the audience on their feet. He pulled to a stop and all his friends and family crowded around his car. He breathed in and looked up to the sky. He whispered. "Thank you dad." 

Allisa and Ben got put right next to his car. When he looked out his window the first person he saw was Allisa and her smiling face. He smiled at her and crawled out the window and climbed on the roof. 

He raised his helmet and waved to the crowd. After a few seconds he jumped down off the car and without thinking pulled Allisa in for a kiss. She was so excited for him she didn't even think about what he was doing. Nor did she notice the TV camera that had made it's way over, or the confused look on Ben's face.


	44. Chapter 44

The silence was deafening in Georgie's house as everyone saw what had happend. Allisa and Junior were kissing. It wasn't a small congradulatory kiss. It was a kiss that showed they had kissed each other before. 

JC tapped Georgie on the shoulder. She looked back at him and shrugged. Tara and Georgie looked at each other. Eveyone looked at Lance who looked like someone had just died. 

Noone had a clue what to do. "Georgie. Tara. Did either of you know about this?" Lance asked with a deadly calm. 

They both shook their heads. Georgie went over to him. "Lance, we didn't know anything at all. We swear." Lance lookeda t Georgie and suddenly got angry. 

"Your lying. You called me that day when you catered for him. You were worried about Allisa and Dale. You knew something was up." 

Georgie wanted to cry. "Lance. I knew Allisa had a small crush on him. That's why I called you, ya know, so she wouldn't do anything stupid." She looked at the TV. "But, I guess that didn't work." 

Lance stood up. 

"I am going home. IF Allisa asks where I am tell her I am home. Tell her I want to talk to her as soon as possible." Lance walked out the door leaving everyone stunned. 

Georgie turned around. "Hey guys, I think Tara and I should be here alone when Lissa get's home." 

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. JC kissed her. "See ya tomorow sweetheart." 

Chris gave Tara a kiss and left. Britney and Justin were still looking at the TV set. "O MY GOD!!" Chris and JC walked back into the apartment. 

On the TV there was a report already about the kiss. 

"So are Lance and Allisa over or is there more to this story than meets the eye? Stay tuned for more on ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT...WEEKEND" 

All eight people sat back on the floor. Wondering what was going to happen. 

~~~~~~~~~ 

After all the comotion of Junior winning the race Allisa and Ben were finally on their way home. Allisa still didn't think about the kiss. She didn't think it was that big of deal because she felt nothing. She was over him. All she felt was excitement for Junior wining the race. 

She smiled as thought back to the look in his eyes. He knew it too. He smiled slightly and told her to tell Lance hi for him. He knew. She loved Lance and whatever she felt for him, was over. She looked over to see Ben scowling out the window. 

She wondered why he had been so quiet. She reached over and rubbed his head. "Hey sport, what's wrong?" 

Ben looked at his mom. He was confused. She kissed Junior the way she kisses Lance. He wanted Lance to be his daddy. Not Junior. Junior was fun and all but he loved Lance. 

"Why did you kiss Junior like that?" 

Allisa looked at Ben. "Like what?" 

"Like you liked it?" 

Allisa's eyes got wide. "Sweetie. I was just congradulating him. I love Lance honey." 

She hoped that would fix it. She knew that the kiss was more on Dale's part then hers. But to outsiders it would look like more. 

Ben looked at his mom. She never lied to him. "Ok mom. Sorry i got mad about it." 

Allisa sighed. 'Thank God lance didn't see it. I could never expain it to him.'


	45. Chapter 45

Ben had fallen asleep soon after he had asked her about the kiss. She was really happy to be going home. Things with lance and her should be 100% better now that she got that stupid fascination with Dale out of her system. She turned her radio on and popped in her Nickleback CD and started singing along. 

~~~~~~ 

Georgie and Tara were livid. Absolutely LIVID!!! "I can't believe she would do this to Lance. I can't believe she didn't tell us anything." 

Georgie was running around the house cleaning. Something she did when she was really pissed. 

Tara was sitting on the couch in a state of shock. JC and Chris decided to stay with them until Allisa got home. JC knew there was no calming Georgie down and reminded himself to keep her on his good side. This was the first time he had seen her get this mad. 

"AND YOU..." Georgie pointed a finger at JC. JC looked at her wide eyed. 'What the heck did I do?' "IF you ever EVER do anything like that to me. I will rip it off and put it in a blender. YOU GOT THAT?!?!" 

JC wanted to laugh. All he did was nod his head up and down. 

"Hmmmp." Was all the response he got and she was off to the kitchen throwing things around. 

Tara looked at a confused JC. "When she see's things like this she gets all hyper on us. Don't worry she isn't mad at you." 

JC nodded. "I know. It's just..does she get this angry a lot?" 

Tara shook her head. "Nope. I have known her for years and this is probably the third time I have seen her like this. Usually she lets things roll off her back."

JC was debating weather or not to go into the kitchen with Georgie or not. "Should I go in there with her?" 

Tara shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes it's ok to try and talk to her. Sometimes it's not. Right now I have no clue." 

JC looked at Tara and back to the kitchen door. "Well, I guess I will give it a shot." He stood up and slowly walked to the kitchen. 

Tara sighed and Chis put his arm around her shoulders. Tara leaned on his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head. 

"Chris, I can't believe she did this. AND she didn't tell us about it. We could have done something to help. To make sure she didn't make an ass out of herself." 

Chris had no idea what to say. Justin and Joey had left to hunt down Lance. He wanted to call one of them to see what was up but he figured he should give them some time to calm him down. 

"Listen, Lissa will be home in a couple of hours. Get some rest that way when she gets here you will be awake." Tara sighed and laid her head in Chris's lap and fell to sleep. 

~~~~~~~~ 

Lance had gone back to Chris's house. He picked up the phone like ten times to call Dale. But he never made the call. He couldn't believe what he saw on TV. They were kissing. KISSING. One of his best friends and his girl. He would have been only slightly angrier if it had been one of the other guys. 

HE was so pisssed he could hit something. He knew something was up but ignored the feelings. All sort of stuff came back to his mind. Things started to fall into place. 

He walked up to his room. He was leaving. Going back to Mississippi with his family. He threw open his closet door and grabbed his suitcase. He put it on the bed. 

"LANCE?!?!?!" He heard Justin yell from downstairs. 

"LANSTEN?!?!?!" Joey yelled next. 

"I'm upstairs guys." 

He grabbed some clothes and put them in the suitcase. 

Justin and Joey walked into the room. "Dude where are you going?" 

Lance turned around to look at his friends. They both stepped back. They had never seen him look this way before. He was crying but he was also angry. 

"I am going home." He turned back to his packing. 

"Aren't you even going to let her explain?" 

Lance laughed harshly. 

"Explain? Explain why she was kissing someone else, and on national TV at that? Explain why she felt the need to lie to me months ago? Explain why she didn't tell me about Dale before this? Explain all that and have her lie to me again? I don't think so. Junior can have her. I AM DONE!!!!" 

He went back to throwing clothes in the suitcase. Justin and Joey looked at each other. They both shrugged. They were about to say something when Lance's phone rang. 

"HELLO?!?!" 

There was laughter on the other end. "Dude, did you watch the race?" 

Lance's eyes become cold as he heard Dale's voice on the other end. He looked at Joey and Justin. 

When Lance didn't answer him right away he spoke again. "Hey Lance buddy, you there?" There was no reply as Lance hung up on him. 

Junior looked at the phone and hit redial. 'What the heck...' This time all he got was Lance's voice mail. He shrugged and left a message. 

"Dude, buddy, I don't what's wrong but I wanted to say hi and sorry that you couldn't make the race. Allisa said you were watching it with the gang. How did you like it? Call me." 

Lance knew that Dale would call right back but he was one of the two people he had nothing to say to right then. His phone rang again. This time Justin picked it up. 

"Hi Lance's phone, Justin here." 

Allisa laughed. "Hey J, where is Lance?" Justin looked at Lance and mouthed Allisa. Lance shook his head and turned back to his packing. "He stepped out for a few minutes. I will have him call you as soon as he get's in." 

Allisa sighed. "Don't worry about it. I will be back in about an hour anyways. Did you guys like the race?" 

Justin had no idea how to answer that. "It was..ummmm.. interesting to say the least." 

Allisa smiled at that strange reply. "Well was Georgie excited that Junior won?" 

"Yea she was." 

Justin didn't need to lie on that one. Georgie was bubbly as could be after Junior won. 

"Ok cool. I gotta go. I need to stop and use the little ladies room so tell everyone I will be back in a few. Bye J." 

"Bye Lissa." 

Lance looked up as Justin said by to Allisa. "She is going to be home in like an hour." 

Lance nodded. "I know we have to talk, but right now I don't want to. She will know as soon as she get's home that there is a problem and what that is. Tell her I will call her in a few days." 

He closed his suitcase and turned back towards Joey and Justin. "Let me know when we get the rest of the dates settled. Bye guys." He leaves the room and headed down the stairs. 

Justin and Joey stand there looking at where Lance had just left. "Well, there is nothing else that we can do here J. We should head home." 

Justin nodded his head. "Yea. Your right. I am sure we will find out in the morning what happened."


	46. Chapter 46

A hour later JC and Georgie were sitting on the couch. She had calmed down and apologized for yelling at JC. "I am so sorry sweetie. I didn't mean to go off on you like that." 

JC smiled. "Well, I just have to remember to never make you angry with me." 

Tara and Georgie looked up at the door as they heard footsteps. Then there was a small knock as Allisa opened the door. "You guys still up?" 

JC spoke. "Yea we are." He stood up and kissed Georgie. Then he kicked Chris awake, who had fallen asleep on the floor. "Dude, come on. Lissa is back." 

Chris jumped right up. "Oh.OK." 

Allisa looked at the two guys funny. "You don't have to leave on my account." When they didn't answer her she looked at Tara and Georgie who didn't look to pleased. 

Quietly JC and Chris make their way out the door. Allisa was still looking are her two best friends. "Ooookay what did I miss?" 

"Sit down Lissa." Allisa does as she is told, as Georgie hits play on the VCR. She had taped the race so everything was saved. 

"Care to explain something?" 

Allisa turned towards the TV to see what Georgie was talking about. Her face turned white and she almost passed out. The kiss. Junior and her kissing was on TV. For everyone to see. She couldn't speak. She couldn't breath. 

She turned to look at the two girls who had their arms folded and were glaring at her. She swallowed hard. "I don't know to say." 

She knew it wasn't like it looked. But it looked bad. That and there was history. There was a bunch of badness before the kiss. 

"Lance. Lance saw it didn't he." Allisa started to cry. 

Georgie and Tara nodded their heads. "Allisa I think it is time you tell us what is or was up." 

Allisa nodded and told the story all the way from the beginning. 

~~~~~~~~ 

Lance decided to drive home. It was a few hours drive but he needed the time to think. He had no idea how he was going to handle this whole thing. Maybe he should talk to Junior first. Get his side. Lance shook his head. He couldn't get rid of the thought that, all those months ago when Lissa had called and said she had been somewhere, she was at Juniors. 

He hit the steering wheel. maybe he should talk to Junior first. He sees an exit with a hotel sign so he gets off. 

~~~~~~~~~ 

"So, when Dale sent us the tickets for this weekend, I was nervous but not as nervous as before. I knew I was over the infatuation. What you all saw was Dale kissing me and me just a little excited about him winning. It didn't mean anything to me. To Dale it did. But not to me. I love Lance. That's why I never pursued this thing. I knew it was just a hormone thing. With Lance, what I feel is real and based on real things. Junior was...was just a fantasy." 

Tara and Georgie listened to the entire explanation and looked at Allisa tear stained face. They believed her. Georgie stood up and gave her a hug then Tara followed suit. 

"We will do anything we can to help with Lance. But, he hates lying. You may have lost him Lissa. For good. If you had been honest at the beginning maybe. But now..." Tara shrugged her shoulders. 

Allisa hiccuped. "I know. That is what I am afraid of. I love him. Ben loves him. He will never forgive me if Lance leaves." 

Georgie looked at the clock. It was midnight. "Well, Lissa. There is not much you can do right now. You should try to get some rest and tomorrow we will work out something." 

Allisa wiped the tears from her face and stood up. "OK. Thank you guys for not hating me." She gave them a hug and went to her apartment. 

Georgie and Tara look at each other. "This is not going to be fun." Georgie nodded her head in agreement. 

~~~~~~~~ 

Lance checked into the hotel and was sitting on the bed staring at his phone. he figured it would be better to NOT be driving when he talked to Junior. He just couldn't bring himself to pick up the phone. He laid down on the bed and put his arm over his eyes. 

He cried softly as everything he lost sunk in. "Why Lissa, Why?"


	47. Chapter 47

Allisa walked up to her apartment and laid down on the bed. She didn't think that she would be able to sleep. She should have known that all of this would come back to bite her in the butt. The kiss meant nothing. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Junior just got out of the shower when his phone rang. 

"Hello?" 

"Hey Junior it's Tony. Have you seen the tape yet?" 

Junior smiled. He and Tony always watched a tape of the races they were in together. "Not yet." 

"Well then Earnhardt get down here so we can watch it. I think you cheated." 

Junior laughed. "Yea right Stewart. I am just a better driver." 

They both laugh because if Tony wins Dale says he cheats and vice versa. "I will be down in 10 minutes." 

Dale put on some jeans and a t-shirt and made his way to Tony's room. He was going to try and call Lance again. He was really strange on the phone and Dale wanted to know if everything was ok. 

He knocked on the door and Tony let him in. "Hey man. You got some beer in here?" 

"As matter of fact I do." Tony grabbed a couple of bottles of Budweiser out of the fridge and threw one to Dale. They sat down on the couch in the room and turned the TV on. 

"I say just fast-forward to the last laps. That's when things started getting good." Tony smiled. Dale was right. The race was relatively calm until the last 20 or so laps. Then he and Junior were neck and neck. 

Tony hit the fast-forward button and got to the last few laps. Every so often Junior would criticize Tony's driving. It got the final lap and Tony had to concede that Junior drove the best. This time. 

Dale got up to use the bathroom and Tony was continuing to watch the tape. When Junior got out of his car he kissed some blonde girl. Tony had never seen her before. He rewound the tape and waited for Dale to get back in the room. 

"So man up to going to a club or something tonight?" 

"Um. No. But I was wondering about something. Who is this?" 

Dale turned back to the TV as Tony hit play. It was like slow motion watching himself kiss Allisa. He sat down on the couch and looked like he saw a ghost. 

"Dale are you ok? You look sick." 

"OH MY GOD." 

Tony was confused. Junior stood up and started to leave. 

"Junior what's going on?" 

Dale was just shaking his head. "I gotta go. I will talk to you later." 

He ran up to his room and sat on the bed. Now he knew what Lance's problem was. Then he thought about Allisa. She would have been home by now. He grabbed the phone and dialed her number. As soon as she answered he knew. Things were not good there. 

"Lance?!" 

Dale cringed. 'Lance saw it too.' "Lissa, it's me Dale." 

Allisa inhaled deeply. She had no idea what to say to him. "I can't talk right now." 

"I just want to make sure your OK?" 

She shrugged knowing he couldn't see her. 

"I guess I am as good as can be expected." 

Dale wanted to cry. Allisa sounded like she had been crying for hours. 

"I am so sorry, Lissa." 

She sighed. 

"Me too." And she hung up the phone on him. 

Dale laid down on the bed. he knew things would never be the same. Between any of them. He was even madder because he was convinced, finally after the race and the kiss, that Allisa did love Lance. 

He picked up the phone one more time. "Lance, it's me Dale. I know you probably don't want to talk but you have to call me. ASAP." 

~~~~~~ 

Lance looked at the clock by the bed in the hotel room. 1:20AM. he had been asleep for a few hours. Now he had no idea what to do. He remembered seeing a bar attached to the hotel. He shrugged. "What harm could a couple of drinks do?" He asked himself. 

So he went into the bathroom to try and fix his unruly hair into some sort of order and trudged down to the bar. It was mostly empty. He sat down at the bar and ordered a beer. The girl behind the counter, Jenni, that's what her name tag said, handed him the drink and smiled. 

"Thank you Jenni." 

"No problem." 

Lance gulped the first bottle down in record time and asked for a second. He was preparing for one hell of a night. He ignored the ringing of his cell and wished everyone and everything to disappear.


	48. Chapter 48

Allisa could not sleep. The whole night. She looked at the clock by her bed. 9AM. She started crying again. She had called Lance's cell all night and all she got was his voice mail and the call from Junior hadn't helped at all. If it wasn't for her damn infatuation with that man, none of this would have happened. She knew she had been rude to him, but he was the last person on this earth she wanted to talk to. 

Allisa wasn't mad at Dale, but if she had stayed away from him in the first place, or been honest with Lance about what she was feeling, they could have worked it out somehow. She had always known all along that she loved Lance, but after the race and the kiss...in which she felt nothing at all....she knew for sure. And she blew it. 

She suddenly jumped up off of her bed. "Or maybe not.." she said outloud to herself. She grabbed the bag she had packed from the weekend and threw the dirty   
clothes onto the floor and put some clean ones in their place. She got her purse and keys off of the table by the door. 

She ran down to Georgie's apartment and opened the door. "GEORGIE!!!!" 

Georgie came out of kitchen. "WHAT for god's sake do you want?!"! 

"I am going to Mississippi. To talk to Lance. Ben is asleep and I will call as soon as I get there." She turned and left before Georgie could even think of   
anything to say. 

~~~~~~~ 

Lance was face down on the bed in his hotel room. He had the worst headache imaginable. Which was reasonable considering the amount of alcohol that he didn't even   
remember consuming. He then remembered the events of the past day. 

Junior. Allisa. He turned over. 'Nope,' he thought, ' drinking did nothing to make that situation better.' He sat up. He noticed a purse and coat on the chair across the room. His eyes got wide. Then he heard someone in the bathroom. 

She opened the door. He remembered her as the bartender from the night before. Jenni. Jenni was her name. 

"Um...I..." 

She smiled at him. "Before you think anything funny happened, just know that I am taking nursing courses. You had a lot to drink last night and you were starting to get sick. You left your key next to you on the bar so I helped you up here and stayed because if you had gotten sick in the middle of the night, you could have choked on you own vomit." 

Lance just stared at the girl. She had said it so fast that the only parts he could make out was nothing happened and vomit. 

"Sorry. I start talking fast when I am nervous. But, hey I studied for my final tomorrow while I was here so my night wasn't a complete wash." 

Still Lance said nothing. Jenni didn't know what to do. She knew who he was the second he walked into the bar the previous night. He also looked like his best friend had died. In the middle of the night he started talking in his sleep. Talking about some girl. 

"Would you like some coffee?" All Lance could do was nod his head. Jenni sighed. She was going to be there for a little longer yet, she could tell. 

"OK then. You go take a hot shower and I will make some very strong coffee." Lance got up and walked to the bathroom. 

Jeni took a second to call her husband. She had told him all about Lance and why she was helping. He had no problem with it. 

Ten minutes later, Lance emerged from the bathroom, looking a little less green. "So, did that help." 

"Yea a little." Lance said in a whisper. His head hurt. His heart hurt, but other than that he was hunky-dory. 

Jenni smiled. "Well, look at that. He can speak more that two words while he was asleep." 

"What?" 

"You talked in your sleep. About some girl. I think her name was Trice or Lissa." 

"Allisa. her name is Allisa." 

Jenni sat down next to him on the bed. "She the reason for the 2 hour binge last night?" 

Lance just nodded his head. 

"Wanna talk about it?" 

Lance sighed. Why, she felt the need to help him he didn't know. But, she seemed like a caring person and he did need someone to talk to. Someone who was not close to the situation. Not just that. She hung around just in case he threw up. 

For the next hour he regaled her with the story of Allisa/Junior and himself. After she composed herself when she found out that Junior was THE Dale Earnhardt, JR. She was easy to talk to. 

"Sounds like to me Lance, that she does love you. You really need to talk to her. Find out EXACTLY what happened that weekend you think she was with him. She   
was with you, when she could have easily at the beginning made the choice to be with him." 

Lance looked at her. "And how would you know that?" 

She smiled. "Because my husband was the one I chose. I was in a very similar situation as Allisa. I love my hubby. I am happy that chose the real thing and not   
just some infatuation. Talk to her Lance. Trust me on this." 

Lance sighed and took a big gulp of the coffee she had made. "Maybe your right. When I get home I will tell her to come so we can talk. Thank you. I don't know why you felt the need to help, but I thank you." 

Jenni smiled and shrugged. "You look like you needed a friend." She stood up and got her purse. "Here. Call me and let me know how everything turns out." Lance   
took her card and watched her leave. 

He looked at his watch. It was almost 11AM. He could get to Mississippi in a few more hours. He got his bag a went to check out. 

~~~~~~~~~ 

Allisa looked at the clock on her dash board. 11AM. She had just passed an exit for a hotel and restaurant, she thought about stooping but wanted to get to Lance's as fast as possible. 

Ten minutes later she decided to give Ben a call. She got her cell out and the dropped it on the floor. She went to pick it up and didn't notice the Semi at a dead stop in the middle of the road. When she looked back up it was to late. Going 70 miles and hour she plowed headlong into the back of it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

After taking about ten minutes to get checked out, Lance was feeling a little better and more than a little hopeful concerning the Allisa situation. He made his way up the on ramp and was on the road only about 15 minutes when there were flashing lights ahead of him and a cop telling him to stop. The cop came up to his window. Lance rolled the window down. 

"There was an accident. You can either wait or take another way." 

Lance looked ahead to see a semi. "What happened?" 

"From the initial look, a young lady was trying to use her cell phone..without a hands-free unit....and didn't notice the truck stopped. She was driving a small car. They are still trying to get her out." 

Lance nodded his head. He had been trying to get Allisa to use a hands-free set for a few months."Well. I hope she is ok. I guess I will turn around and go the back roads." 

The officer stepped out of the way to let Lance turn around. By the time Lance got on the other side his cell rang, 

He hit the hands-free button and talked through that. 

"Hello?" 

"Lance?" 

"Yea JC, it's me. What's wrong?" 

"Lance. There has been an accident. It's Allisa." 

Lance looked in his rear view mirror and sudden chill came over him. He pulled over and picked up the phone. 

"Where JC? Where is she?"


	49. Chapter 49

When JC didn't answer right away Lance got angry. 

"JOSH, WHERE IS SHE?" 

JC couldn't figure out why he was so upset. 

"She was on her way to see you. She left for Mississippi this morning." 

'Dear God in heaven,' Lance thought to himself as he whipped his car around and went back the way he had come. 

"What's going on Lance?" 

Lance blinked back tears. "JC, I am right behind her. I came up on an accident. It's Lissa. I just know it is." 

He could barely breath. He got back up the cop that had directed him just minutes before hand. 

"Officer. The girl in the accident. Is her name Allisa?" 

The officer looked at him weird. "Yes, but how did you know that?" 

Lance pulled the car over and jumped out, forgetting that JC was still on the phone. "Josh, I gotta go. I am with her." 

JC didn't know what to say. What were the chances of Lance being right behind Allisa's accident? 

"Ok bud. We are all going to be there as soon as possible. When they called us they told us what hospital she was going to be taken too." 

Lance didn't answer. He just hung up the phone and started to walk to the wreck. The police officer stopped him. 

"Sir, We can't let anyone over there." 

Lance looked at the officer. "She is my girlfriend. She was coming to see me." 

The officer's eyes got wide. He had been to the scene. It was not pretty. No one was sure why she was still alive. He was going to wait until the girl was in the ambulance before letting Lance over. 

"As soon as she is ready to go to the hospital, you can ride over with her." 

Lance sighed. She could not die. She couldn't. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

JC turned to the girls sitting on the couch. Chris was in a meeting. They called him and told him there was an emergency. Justin and Britney had just arrived and Joey was with Kelly and their baby on vacation. They left a message with their hotel. Hopefully they would get it soon. 

Georgie knew something was up. JC had a strange look on his face. "JC, sweetie what's wrong?" 

He was just shaking his head. "Lance, he...he was right behind the accident. He came up on it and had just turned around when I called. He is with Lissa right now" 

There was a stunned silence as everyone took that bit if information in. JC looked at Georgie and had no idea how he would handle the situation if the same thing was to happen. 

The silence was broken by Chris running into the apartment. "Ok what's going on?' 

Tara jumped up and ran over to Chris. Chris sat down on a chair and looked at Tara crying. "Guys what's going on?" 

Justin spoke up. "It's Allisa. There was an accident. Bad. We were waiting for you so we could all get going." 

"Is Lissa dead?" He couldn't help asking the question. 

"No, but they saids he didn't look to good." 

JC stood up. "And Lance is with her already." 

Chris looked at him funny. "We will explain on the way." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

They finally got Allisa out and in the ambulance. Everyone was shocked that she was still alive. There was nothing left of her car. Her head was bleeding, her two legs twisted almost all the way around. She was unconscious with they didn't know how many internal injuries. They were sure her neck was broken. 

When they let Lance on the ambulance he almost couldn't breath. Allisa looked dead. She was white and barley breathing. He sat down on the floor next to the stretcher. He had to let her know that he was there. 

He picked up her hand. It felt cold and limp."Lissa, sweetie. It's Lance." 

Nothing. No movement no nothing. 

Lance let the tears fall freely. He leaned down and gave her a kiss. His tears fell on her face. "Lissa, I love you. You have to come back to me."


	50. Chapter 50

Dale was pacing around his hotel room. He had not been able to get a hold of anyone. Not even Georgie or Tara. He wanted to talk to Lance. He wanted to take the blame for most everything. 

He walked over and picked up his phone. He decided to call Allisa's cell one more time. He dialed the number. "Sorry, your call cannot be completed. This phone is out of order." 

Dale shrugged. 'Hmmm wonder what happened to her cell phone?' 

He didn't have any of the other guys cell numbers so he would just have to wait. He sat down on the edge of the bed a turned the TV on. It was time for the news. 

"There was an accident on the Northbound thruway this morning." It flashed pictures of what used to be a small car that was almost all the way underneath a semi."The girl that was driving the car is said to be in critical condition. Her name is being held until family is contacted." 

Dale could not believe anyone could survive such a wreck. He turned the TV back off and laid down. He fell asleep almost instantly. 

~~~~~~~~ 

The two hour drive to the hospital that Allisa was in, seemed to take forever. The ride was in silence each one contemplating what they would do once they got there. 

When they arrived at the hospital, the first person they saw was Lance. He was pacing around the emergency room doors. Georgie ran up to him. 

Lance looked up to see Georgie running at him. he was crying and she was crying. They hugged each other. JC and the rest made there way up and surrounded the two. They all stood that way for like twenty minutes. When they were interrupted by a voice. 

"Excuse me" Everyone came apart to look a the nurse who spoke. 

"The doctor told me to come out here and give Mr. Bass an update. We didn't realize that the rest of you were here yet. Why don't you all follow me. Are her parents here as well?" 

Georgie shook her head. "No. They were on vacation in the Dominican Republic. They were coming as soon as they could. They were going to pick up Ben on their way up." 

No one told Ben how bad the accident was. They all wanted to get up here and check on her themselves first. Ben wanted to come but Georgie and Tara insisted that he wait for his grandparents. So they called Sara and they left with promises to call him with any information. 

The nurse looked down at the file in her hand and breathed heavily. This was the worst part of her job. "I don't know how to say this." 

JC stood up and walked over to Georgie who was looking out the window. He pulled her against his chest and kissed her cheek. 

She blinked back tears and Lance walked up to her. "Please Miss, just tell us the truth." 

She swallowed hard. "It don't look good. She broke her neck and cracked her skull. She is breathing on her own still, but we are not to sure how long that is going to last. The longer she is unconscious the worse it will be. Not only that. The thing we are most worried about is her heart. a piece of metal from the back of the semi came through and pierced her heart. It sliced through the main artery. We can't seem to stop the bleeding." 

Lance exploded. "WHAT the hell do you mean you can't stop the bleeding? That is what you are supposed to do. You are supposed to save her life." 

Lance was almost on top of the girl. Chris and Justin had to pull him away and make him sit. "Lance, they are doing the best they can." 

"Then their best is not good enough." Lance leaned forward and put his head in his hands. 

" I'm truly sorry. The next twelve hours will be very important." The nurse stood up and looked at the seven forlorn faces in the room. She blinked back tears as she believed this was not the worst of it.


	51. Chapter 51

JC convinced Justin and Britney to take Georgie and Tara to a hotel and get them to rest. He said he would stay with Lance for a couple of hours. Dre had come with them and he went over and got reservations. Lance was sitting on a chair looking out the window. He looked at his watch. It had been 3 hours since the nurse had been out to talk to them. 

"Josh, if she dies, I have no idea how I will survive." 

JC had no idea what to say. "We just have to keep praying Lance. She is a strong girl." 

JC had to admit to himself that Allisa's chances seemed minimal at best. 

JC looked over at Lance who was letting a fresh stream of tears fall down his face. JC grabbed him and hugged him. "I know Lance. I know." 

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Justin and Britney were sitting out on the balcony of the hotel. 

"I sure hope everything is going to be Ok J. Lance will not be the same if Lissa is gone." 

Justin nodded his agreement. "I know Brit. I know. Neither will Georgie or Tara. It would be like one of the guys dying." 

"SHE IS NOT GOING TO DIE" 

Britney and Justin turned around to see Georgie standing in the doorway. 

"And if you two can't think of more positive things then go home. We don't need you here." 

Britney started to stand up. Justin stopped her. "Let me talk to her." 

Georgie had walked back into the room and was standing by the couch. Tara was still asleep in the bedroom. Justin came up behind her. 

"Georgie..." 

She whirled on him. "What Timberlake? Do you have more encouraging words to say?" 

Justin got a little angry. "Georgie. You heard what the nurse said. You have to prepared for the worst." 

Georgie sat down on the couch. She did know that. but her heart was telling her to fight it. She put her head in her hands and started to cry. Britney came in and sat on one side, Justin on the other and they held onto Georgie as she cried. 

~~~~~~~ 

Tara woke up from a very very bad dream. Then she looked around and remembered it wasn't a dream. It was real. Allisa was dying. She started to sob and then she felt a pair of arms come around her. 

"I know Tara. Just cry." Chris sat behind her on the bed and rocked Tara gently as she cried. 

~~~~~~~~ 

Lance and JC had gotten up to walk around. When they got back , Joey was there and so where Allisa's parents and Ben. When Ben saw Lance he ran to him. Lance picked him up and hugged him. 

"They won't let me see my mom, Lance." Lance blinked back more tears. 

"I know sport. They won't let any of us see her either." Lance and JC made eye contact over Ben's head. 

"Hey Ben. let's go find your aunts." Ben shrugged. 

"Ok. Can you tell me how my mommy is?" 

JC picked up Ben and started towards the hotel. "All I know is kiddo is they are doing everything they can to help her." 

Ben laid his head on JC's shoulder. He knew something was wrong but he didn't know what. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Lance was sitting in a chair in front of Joey and Allisa's parents. He had just got done telling them what the nurse had said. Lance got back up and looked out the window again. It had been 6 hours. 6 more to know if everything would be alright. 

Her parents were crying on the couch. Joey stood up and put an arm around Lance. They didn't need to say anything. 

~~~~~~~~~ 

Georgie and Tara were sitting at the table in the kitchen area of the hotel room. JC had come over with Ben, so everyone was trying to put on a brave face for him. 

Georgie was holding Ben and he had fallen asleep in her lap. He was heavy but she really didn't care at that point. 

"Tara, think someone should call Junior?" 

Tara blinked. She hadn't even thought about him. "Maybe." 

~~~~~~~ 

Lance decided to check his messages. He had called his parents and told them what was going on, and he expected Johnny to be calling back soon. 

He checked. He sat down in the chair when he found out he had one from Junior. Now he didn't know what to do. All of the stuff with him seemed so trivial to what was going on with Lissa now. Junior needed to know. Lance was sure that Allisa didn't love him. but he was just as sure that Dale loved Allisa. 

Lance dialed Dale's cell. 

"Hello?" 

Lance almost hung up. But didn't. 

"Junior? It's me Lance." 

Dale sat straight up off the bed. Lance sounded horrible, but given the situation Junior understood why. 

"Lance, I am so sor..." 

Lance stopped him. 

"Listen, there is something more important than what happened at the race." Lance sighed into the phone. 

Dale suddenly got worried. If Lance didn't call about the Allisa situation then why did he call? 

"What's going on Lance?" 

There was a few more seconds of silence. Then Dale heard some noise on the phone. 

"Hey Junior, it's Joey." 

Now Dale was thoroughly confused. 

"What's going on Joe?" 

"It's Allisa." 

"I know Joey. Allisa and I..." 

"No Dale. You don't know. There was an accident. Allisa is hurt. Badly. They don't think she is going to make it." 

Dale blinked as tears fell from his eyes. 

"When?" 

"Early this morning. She was on her way to Mississippi to..well to make thins right with Lance. She ran into the back of a semi." 

Dale's eyes got huge as he remembered the news. That was the accident Allisa was is. It was his fault. If he had left her alone... 

"Listen, Lance wanted to tell you. Despite everything that went down, he thought you needed to know." 

Dale detected a hint of anger in Joey's voice. He deserved it. 

"Can I come up there? Even before Allisa, Lance was one of my best friends." 

He heard Joey ask Lance. Then there was noise on the phone again. 

"Junior, it's me Lance." 

Dale swallowed. 

"Lance. I'm sorry. About everything." 

"I know Junior. I know. The important thing right now is Allisa. I can forget about what happened for now if you can. I know Allisa loves me. I also know you love her. So if you want to come here I won't stop you." 

Junior let the tears fall freely now. 

"Thank you Lance." 

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for Allisa." 

Lance ended the call and turned back to Joey. 

"He probably will be here shortly." 

Joey didn't understand why Lance let Junior come but then he had never been in this position before.


	52. Chapter 52

When everyone got back to the hospital there was a flurry of activity and a very worried looking Lance. Allisa parents were allowed to go in for a few minutes and they just got rushed back out. 

"Lance, what's going on?" 

Lance just shook his head. 

"I don't know." 

After about fifteen minutes, a doctor came out. Everyone was there. Excpet Ben. Joey was with Ben at the hotel. The doctor looked around at all the faces in the waiting room. 

"Would you all please sit down." 

Everyone sat where they could. Georgie and Tara on JC's and Chris's laps. Lance and Allisa's parents on the couch. Justin stood next to Lance with his hand on his shoulder. Britney stood between chairs and held onto Georgie and Tara's hands. 

"We have done everything we can for Allisa. We have been able to stop the bleeding but she has pulmonary edema." 

"What is that?" 

"That's when fluid builds up around the heart. There is nothing we can do once that occurs. We try to make the patient as comfortable as possible." 

There was silence in the room. Georgie stood up. "So what your saying is, is that Allisa is going to die and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.?" 

The doctor just looked at the group of people who obviously loved the girl in the emergency room very much. 

Lance spoke up. "Will she regain consciousnesses at all?' 

"There is the possibility. We thought her neck was broke to severely to wake up, but we found that it is not. She could wake up any second. If she does she will be awake and able to understand." 

There again was silence. But the doctor waited. Inevitably, there was one last question. 

"How long will she hang on with this edema?" 

No one knew he had walked in. Everyone turned around to see Dale standing behind the group. Lance looked up and almost started for him. Then he stopped. Things were to confusing to deal with at the moment. 

"At the most.....3 hours." 

They all sat down. Defeated. 

"I am so sorry." 

The doctor turned and left the room. Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes. 

Lance looked up and saw Junior standing against the wall. At first he thought it would be good if he came. Now he wasn't so sure. It was his fault this happened. 

Lance jumped up and screamed at Dale. 

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. If you would have left her alone she never would have been in an accident. I should kill you." 

Lance was to grief stricken to know what he was doing. Junior tried to pull Lance's hands from around his neck, but his grip was too tight. JC and Justin had to get Lance off of him. 

Georgie walked up to Junior. "Dale you had better go." 

Dale wiped some tears from his eyes. 

"I know." He gave Georgie a hug. "Let me know what's going on Ok?" 

Georgie nodded and watched Junior walk out of the hospital. 

About an hour later the doctor came back out. All hoped that this was a good sign. It wasn't. 

"She is awake. Groggy but awake. She wants to see you. But only one or two at a time. I also want you to remember that even though she is lucid and talking slightly, this does not mean an improvement. We have explained everything to her and she said she wanted to see you guys." 

They let her parents in first. They were in there for about twenty minutes. Then Justin and Britney went in for only about five. JC and Chris went in. When they came back out they sent in Lance, Tara, and Georgie. 

Georgie went in followed by Tara. Lance stopped at the door. He couldn't do it. He couldn't go in there and watch her die, knowing there wasn't anything he could do about it. He had all the money he wanted and could not save the woman he loved. 

Allisa could see her three very best friends in the world standing in the door. She blinked back tears. She couldn't move, but she could talk a little. She still couldn't believe she was dying. When she woke and was unable to move she was scared. She was paralyzed. the first thing she thought of was how this was going to put a hitch in JC and Georgie's wedding. 

Then the doctor explained what was going on with her. It was like living a bad episode of ER. Pulmonary Edema. 'What is going to happen with Ben?' 

She knew that between her parents and Georgie and Tara, Ben would grow up wonderfully. Wonderfully but without her. She wiped away tears as Georgie and Tara walked in the room. 

Allisa smiled weakly at them. "Hi guys." She said hoarsely. Georgie and Tara walked to either side of her bed. The stood there in silence. 

Allisa looked back and forth between the girls. "Hey now, when have we never had anything to say?" 

Tara smiled slightly whereas Georgie got mad."This is not a time to be joking Lissa." She let the tears pour down her cheeks. Allisa reached for her hand. 

"George, I know this is going to be hard. But you guys need to be strong. For Ben. For Lance." Allisa for the first time let her tears fall. 

"Lissa,.." Tara couldn't finish her statement. The three girls, best friends even before they met face to face stood there holding hands and crying. Noone knew what to say. There was nothing to say. 

"I love you guys. If it wasn't for you two, I would have been a basket case years ago. Just promise me you will take care of Ben, And not run Serendipity to the ground." 

The two girls chuckled slightly. "We promise. Speaking of Ben. Do you want us to bring him here to you." 

Allisa eyes flared. "No way. I don't want him to see me like this. It's going to be hard enough...." 

She stopped as she was wracked with a pain through her whole chest. 

"Lissa, honey." 

"It's ok. just the pain. They told me there would be pain. I just have to deal with it for a couple of hours..." 

She stopped as she saw Lance walk in. He was crying. Allisa's eyes met his. She too started crying. "Listen we are going to leave. Let you and Lance have some time alone." 

Allisa looked into the eyes of her very best friends and realized that this was the last time she was ever going to see them. She let the tears fall as Georgie hugged her. 

"Love ya Lissa." 

Tara bent down and kissed her forehead. "Love you too Lissa." 

"Love you both back." 

The walked out of the room and looked back at her one last time. Tara fell to the floor and Chris immediately came next to her. Georgie walked passed Jc and out the hospital door. He followed her knowing that she needed some time alone. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Lance set next to Allisa on the bed and held her hand. it felt warmer than when he was in the ambulance with her. 'She can't be dying if she feels warm.' 

"Lance.." 

He looked down at her. His beautiful Lissa. He pushed the hair out of her eyes. "I love you Lissa." 

Allisa blinked back tears. "I love you too, Lance. I always did. Junior was...." 

He quieted her with his finger. "I don't want to talk about him. I forgive you. It's in the past." 

She smiled weakly at him. She closed her eyes as another pain wracked her body. This time making the machines in the room go crazy. The noise scared Lance. He started to get up to get the doctor. Allisa's hand stopped him. 

"There is nothing they can do Lance. Just make me comfortable." 

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She felt Lance shift and lay down next to her. 

"I am not going anywhere. I will be here the whole time sweetheart." 

Allisa let the tears fall from her eyes. She was going to die. She was going to leave all of this behind. She finally had the love she wanted all her life and she was going to die. It was so damn unfair. 

They laid that way for about an hour, when Lissa felt a change in her body. There was alot of pain in the last hour. 

"Lance,..." 

He heard her soft spoken word and sat up and looked at her. Looking in her eyes he knew. He leaned in and kissed her. "I love you Allisa." She kissed him back and then went limp. Then the heart machine made that god awful flat line noise and he knew she was gone. 

He stood up and looked down at her. His heart and soul. He would never be the same again. 

As the doctor and nurses came rushing in, he walked slowly out to the room. Everyone knew just by looking at his face. Allisa was gone. 

Georgie and Tara clung to each other as JC and Chris stood close by. Justin held onto Lance as Britney rubbed his back slightly. No words needed to be spoken as each contemplated what they had lost.


	53. Chapter 53

Georgie looked at herself in the mirror and started crying. Her hair was not doing what she wanted it to. Allisa was supposed to be doing it for her. It was her wedding day for god's sake and Allisa was supposed to be there for it. Tara came up behind her. 

"I know George. I miss her too." 

JC had asked her if she wanted to postpone the wedding. She said no. Allisa would not want them to that. Everyone had stuck together for Ben's sake and he seemed to be pulling it together pretty good. 

Geogie looked back in the mirror. "Forget it. I am just going to put it up in a ponytail and be done with it." Tara smiled slightly seeing as that was what Georgie wanted to do in the first place. Allisa was the one who wanted to do Georgie's hair. 

There was knock on the door and Lance came in. Lance had been a constant presence in Bens' life since Allisa died. This was great for both of them. 

"Wow, George. You look beautiful." 

Tears stung the back of her eyes as she smiled at him. 

""Thank you." 

"I have something for you." He handed her an envelope. 

She looked at Lance. 

"She had me write it before she.....died." 

Geogie sat down and tore into the envelope. 

_George,_

_So girl, this is it huh? Sorry that I am not there to be a part of it. Maybe I will stop by to haunt the reception. O come on laugh, you know you want too. Anyways sweetie be happy. JC loves you. Let him. Love him in return and I will always be with you. I bet Ben looks adorable in his tux. Give him a kiss for me. Give one to Lance too. Well, knowing you, you probably are just putting your hair in a ponytail and forgetting about the style we had picked out so I will let you get back to getting the perfect scrunchy for that._

_Love you girl. Tell Tara I love her too. Have a happy life  
Lissa _

Georgie cried and let Lance hold her for a few minutes. 

"Hey George. You got someone waiting for you. He is getting a little impatient." 

Georgie wiped her tears off of her face. 

"I'm ready Mitch." She folded the letter up and put it in her little silk purse. 

The music started and her and Mitch made their way down the isle. She saw the picture of Allisa that she had picked out and placed on a table by the other girls. Allisa's place was by her side. Dead or alive. 

Georgie met JC's eyes and he winked. He knew this was going to be a hard day for her. She reached JC's and he took her hand. He whispered in her ear. 

"Allisa is always going to be with us." 

She blinked and looked at the picture of Allisa one more time. It was of the three of them. When her and Tara first came down to Florida. She smiled and looked back at JC. 

"I know. I know." 


	54. Chapter 54

EPILOGUE 

Lance and Ben stared at the tombstone. It had been a year since Allisa died. Everyone seemed to move on. Slowly getting their lives back in order. JC and Georgie were having a baby. A girl. They were naming her Allisa. 

Ben grabbed Lance's hand. He lived with JC and Georgie, but spent most of his time with Lance. He even got to go on tour with them. His mom would have loved that. He missed her a lot. Sometimes he would cry at night and Lance would come in and cry with him. It had been better tho. He didn't cry as much. Neither did Lance. 

Junior called once a week to see how he was doing. But, he could never figure out why Lance never talked to Dale. They used to be friends. Just one of those things a kid wouldn't understand he figured. 

"Well, sport. Are you ready to go?" 

Ben nodded his head. He looked up at Lance. Lance ruffled his hair. 

"Lance?" 

"What?" 

"Do you think I can call you daddy? I mean my mom wanted you to be my dad right?" 

Lance and Ben were at his car and Lance dropped to his knee. With tears in his eyes he hugged him. 

"You can call me whatever you want Ben." 

Ben nodded and got in the car. Lance got in the driver side. Ben tapped his arm and Lance looked at him. 

"I love you daddy." 

Lance started to cry immediatly and hugged him. 

"I love you too, son." 

Driving off Lance thanked Allisa for everything in his life that was good.


End file.
